Gang-rape on motorway: ‘Culprits’ clues confirmed, evading arrest for now

LAHORE: The police have identified the main culprit in the motorway gang-rape case with the help of DNA profiling, as well as his accomplice, and intensive raids are being conducted at various places for their arrest.

This was disclosed by Punjab Chief Minister Sardar Usman Buzdar at a press conference here on Saturday. He was flanked by Punjab Law Minister Raja Basharat and Inspector General of Police (IGP) Inam Ghani.

The IGP told the media the accused fled from their homes when the police teams conducted raids there.

Interestingly, the CM shared all information about the suspects at the press conference against the norms of investigations to high-profile cases ‘before the arrest’ of culprits.

If one believes that the suspects are still at large, the disclosure of all particulars of suspects would facilities them to go into hiding. Senior police officers believed that the press conference was normally held at the arrest of culprits, and not at a time when they were absconding.

Sources said special teams including the Counter-Terrorism Department (CTD) had arrested both the accused and they would be killed in encounters soon “to award them exemplary punishment”. It would also help the Police Department avoid prosecution process in the relevant courts, a senior police officer said.

According to the official stance of the Punjab government, special police teams had launched a manhunt to apprehend the culprits after having identified them through scientific evidence.

The CM announced a reward of Rs2.5 million for those providing credible information for arrest of each culprit. He said that the identity of those bringing forward any information would be kept confidential.

“We worked day and night and launched a probe using scientific techniques. I personally monitored the progress and ordered for completion of probe expediently," Buzdar said.

"I want to inform you all we have succeeded in tracking down the real culprits of the heart-wrenching incident in less than 72 hours.

“I assure you that the savages, who committed the crime, will be brought to justice very soon," the CM vowed. Buzdar said that the culprits would be given exemplary punishment for the heinous crime.

IGP Inam Ghani said that the police have entire record of both accused – identified as Abid Ali and Waqarul Hasan – in the case.

According to the CM, seven cases, including two gang-rape cases, were registered against Abid, while two robbery cases were registered against Waqar who was released 14 days ago on bail.

"A special investigation team was constituted in which officers from the CTD, Special Branch, and an officer from the unit of violence against women were made part of the team," Ghani said. He said that the entire area where the incident took place was canvassed. "Geofencing of the entire area was carried out, data was taken from the Election Commission of Pakistan, fingerprints were taken from the site, and DNA tests were conducted," he said. Ghani said that scientific investigation was a time-consuming process.

The chief minister cooperated with the police throughout the process and he remained in contract with the team even at night, till 1:30-2am," he said.

The police chief said that ultimately, on midnight of Friday and Saturday, "through scientific evidence", the prime suspect was identified as Abid Ali.

"Abid is a resident of Fort Abbas, district Bahawalnagar," he said.

"Our teams worked hard to gain information about Abid and were able to get information about his family, his prior records, his CNIC, and cell numbers.

The IGP said that after the police went through the records, they had gathered they got to know that the suspect had four cell-phone SIMs registered in his name that he used on several occasions. All of the SIMs, however, were currently non-functional.

"Ultimately, we tracked down another number — which was not registered in his name — and it proved our suspicions right. Through the number, we were able to reach his partner as well," he said.

The Punjab police chief added: "We are 95% sure that the person we have tracked down is his partner as his phone signals were traced to the location of the crime at the time of the incident."

He said that today, at 12pm, "we were ready to raid their residences and apprehend them", but upon reaching the locations, found that they had fled.

"The police were then able to track down the suspects' residences to Qila Sattar Shah, district Sheikhupura," IGP Ghani said.

"Unfortunately, despite raiding both the suspects' residences, we were not able to get hold of them," he added.

He said that owing to information leak in the public domain, the suspects "were aware that the police were closing in on them".

Speaking of Abid, IGP Ghani said the police raided his house — located in fields — in civilian clothes and a car, but he saw a vehicle stop near his house. So, Abid and his wife fled the scene.

"However, we were able to find his daughter inside the house," he said, adding that the police recovered his marriage certificate and other records, which helped confirm things.

"The second suspect, Waqarul Hassan, a resident of Ali Town, had also fled," the Punjab police chief said.

The IGP requested people to help the police catch the suspects and call on 15 to inform the police of their whereabouts. Responding to questions, he clarified that the suspects were "not yet caught".

Ghani said that timely assistance was not provided to the woman as Motorway police were not present in the area.

The chief minister said that to avoid any jurisdictional issues in the future, the government had decided to develop a mechanism to connect all calls to 15 so that the police's response time can be reduced.

Buzdar, responding to a question, said that the Capital City Police Officer Lahore Umar Sheikh had made an "irrelevant" statement and he has been served a show-cause notice.

"The IG has sent a show-cause notice to him and sought a reply in seven days. After he responds, legal action will be taken," Buzdar said.

CCPO Sheikh had blamed the victim for using an unsafe route and said that she should have checked her petrol tank before getting on the said route.

On Wednesday night, it was reported that two robbers had allegedly gang-raped a mother of two on the Lahore-Sialkot Motorway in an area falling within Gujjarpura police jurisdiction.

Meanwhile, the Special Investigation Team (SIT) has been trying to trace a truck from which a person approached the Gujjarpura rape victim from the opposite side and tried to ask the reason for parking the car on the roadside.

It is learnt that the truck coming from Gujranwala stopped on seeing the parked car on the opposite side. A person from the truck approached the car and tried to ask the woman about the issue she was facing. The woman didn’t open windows but told him about the petrol issue with signs. The said man opened the bonnet of the car and then left. After few minutes of his departure, two suspects reached there and committed the heinous offence.

It is worth-mentioning here that the villages and other areas of Gujjarpura police limits are safe havens for criminals. A number of incidents of crime against persons and property are reported there on a daily basis. The police have failed to control crimes in the said areas.

Ameen Abbasi adds from Bahawalpur: The main offender, Abid Ali, earlier lived in Chak 260/HR, tehsil Fort Abbas, district Bahawalnagar, where he had been wanted by the police in different heinous crimes. The cases included a gang-rape in which he and four other culprits had raped a mother and her daughter seven years ago and later reconciliation was reached between the victims and the culprits because the victim family was pressurised.

Abid Ali had been absconder because Bahawalnagar district police had registered seven more FIRs in different police stations; however, Bahawalnagar district police could never take any strict action against him.

The Bahawalnagar district police did not provide any details about the accused despite various calls made by the correspondent.

District police spokesman said that Abid Ali had left the area seven years ago after a reconciliation was reached with the victims in gang-rape case and no other record against the culprit existed.

Nevertheless this correspondent collected reliable information about Abid Ali which confirmed the fact that he had been involved in almost seven heinous crimes including robberies, which the district police seem to be hiding from the media.