wo more suspects have been arrested as police continue to investigate the gang-rape of a passenger on the Karachi-bound Bahauddin Zakaria Express.

“We have arrested two more suspects for the facilitation of the crime. We believe that one of them also raped the victim,” investigation officer Habibullah Khattak told The News on Sunday.

The suspects, Amir and Hafeez, are employees of a private firm working for the Pakistan Railways. Police said Amir was the custodian of the two AC bogies. He was present when the woman was gang raped. Earlier, police had arrested three suspects who had all confessed.

“He was on duty at that time. We have collected his DNA samples to ascertain his role in the assault,” Khattak said, adding that DNA samples of four suspects had been sent to the forensic science laboratory in the Punjab. “The DNA analysis will take around two weeks. We have nearly completed our investigation. We are now waiting for the DNA reports.”

Last month, the Karachi City Railway Police had registered a case when the victim approached them. The woman had travelled to the Punjab to meet her two children. On her way back, she had taken the Bahauddin Zakaria Express, from Multan to Karachi. Police had arrested ticket-checker Zahid, train manager Aqib and their accomplice, Zohaib.

In the FIR, the woman stated that the incident occurred on May 27 when she, a resident of Orangi Town in Karachi, boarded the train from Multan railway station for Karachi. She had gone to visit her children in Muzaffargarh.

“I got on the train from Muzaffargarh without a ticket. When I boarded the train, the ticket-checker said I could buy the ticket on the train. I sat in the economy class after paying the checker Rs 1,250. Later, another person who introduced himself as ticket-checker Zahid came to me and offered me a berth in the AC compartment of the train. He took me to the AC compartment at Rohri where the train manager, Aqib was also . Later, Aqib left the AC compartment. While leaving, he locked the compartment from the outside. Then Zahid came and threatening to kill me, raped me. Then two others came and raped me.” She said she had approached three guards of the private company on the train and narrated the incident to them but they had not helped her.

Faisal Shahkar, the Railway Police inspector general, had taken notice of the incident and announced the arrest of all three suspects, saying that the suspects were employees of a private company running the Bahauddin Zakariya Express and were not employees of Pakistan Railways.

Railway Police SP Mehar Abbas had also said that the train staff had trapped the victim by offering her a seat in the AC bogie and that all three had raped her. He had added that the train manager, Aqib, ticket checker, Zahid, and their companion, Zohaib, had been arrested from Samandri, Jahanian and Shor Kot.

Earlier, a medical checkup of the victim at Jinnah Postgraduate Medical Center had confirmed that she had been raped. Police had said that on arriving in Karachi, the victim had not informed the railway staff about the incident.

Earlier, the railways minister and chairman had directed the administration and Railways Police to immediately arrest the suspects. They had also asked for suitable measures to ensure prevention of such incidents on trains run by private contrators.

The writer is Karachi based   journalist, covering crime and terrorism for two decades for various media organisations. He can be reached on Twitter @farazjourno