LAHORE: The Punjab police after taking into custody around 15 suspects in connection with the alleged gang rape of a mother of three children on the Lahore-Sialkot motorway in the wee hours of Wednesday have set a target of 48 hours for nabbing the culprits and putting this case to an end.
Capital City Police Officer (CCPO) Umer Sheikh while talking to the media on Thursday said they had successfully secured blood samples of the suspected rapists when they broke the door glass after the woman refused to come out from her car. "There are three villages within the distance of five kilometers of the occurrence place," he said, adding he is 100 percent sure that the alleged rapists are hiding somewhere in these villages. He said the police have also DNA profiling of the criminals in these villages and they have taken into custody 15 suspects who being interrogated.
The CCPO said the woman along with her three children had departed at around 12:30am from DHA Phase 6 Lahore to the house of her in-laws in Gujranwala. "Without estimating how much fuel was in the petrol tank, the woman drove the car to motorway," he added.
Rejecting reports that the car had developed some technical fault, the CCPO said initial investigation suggested that the car crossed the toll plaza at around 1:00am and after some four kilometers the car ran short of fuel. Umer also cast doubt over the travel of the women along with her children late in the night saying "I don't know under which condition the woman left the city".
At around 3:05am, the CCPO said they had received information that two persons were pulling a woman out of her car and the first responders of police reached the spot at sharp 3:20am and started their search. Besides securing other evidences, the police have seized CCTV footages of nearby buildings and are looking for clues, he added.
According to my professional assessment, the alleged rapists are hiding somewhere with the radius of three to five kilometers away from the crime scene, he said, adding that the police are utilizing all available resources to resolve the case and the culprits would be arrested within 48 hours.
Deputy Inspector General of Police (Investigation) Shahzada Sultan, who is leading the investigation, said that currently this is the top priority case of the Lahore police due to its sensitivity. To a query whether any suspect confessed during the interrogation, the DIG said that habitual or record holder criminals prove hard nut to crack. But we are focusing on conducting DNA profiling to identify the alleged rapists, he added.
Earlier in the day, newly-appointed Punjab IGP Inam Ghani had constituted 20 teams comprising personnel of the Lahore police, the Crime Investigation Agency (CIA) and other law enforcement agencies for early arrests of the culprits involved in the alleged gang rape.
A statement issued by the central police office (CPO) quoted the IG as saying that the police were taking all necessary measures and "no stone will be left unturned to provide immediate justice to the victim and her family". The IG continued that the police teams are working day and night to identify the accused by gathering DNA evidence, geo-fencing, examining CCTV footage and NADRA records. He added that more than half of the suspects in the case are being investigated and raids are being carried out to nab dozens of former record holders in such incidents.
The other night, two robbers allegedly gang raped a mother of three children at gunpoint in Gujjarpura police limits when she was waiting for help on the motorway after her car run out of fuel. The culprits, who allegedly gang raped the woman in front of her children, also snatched away her purse carrying almost Rs 100,000 cash, a gold bracelet, registration papers of the car and three ATM cards.
Copyright Business Recorder, 2020
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