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Motorway rape incident: Prime suspect Abid Malhi arrested from Faisalabad

  • The suspect is being shifted to Lahore for taking his DNA test and for interrogation
Fahad Zulfikar Updated 12 Oct, 2020

(Karachi) The prime suspect in Motorway rape incident, Abid Malhi, has been arrested from Faisalabad, media reported on Monday. On September 9, the accused and his accomplice Shafqat had allegedly raped a woman on the Motorway during a robbery bid.

Shafqat was arrested earlier and is in jail on judicial remand after confessing to committing the crime.

As per details, the suspect is being shifted to Lahore for taking his DNA test and for interrogation. He evaded police arrest for over a month but was finally nabbed during a raid.

Meanwhile, media reports revealed that the Punjab police laid out a trap to nab Abid Malhi.

As part of the operation, Malhi's wife was given a SIM which she used to call him. Abid Malhi told his wife in one of his calls that he would meet her in Faisalabad. When the motorway rape suspect arrived in the city to meet her, he was arrested by police officials deputed on the spot in plain clothes.

The backdrop

On September 9, the woman was allegedly gang raped during a robbery bid in Gujjarpura along the recently inaugurated Lahore-Sialkot Motorway.

Police said the victim was travelling with her children in a car when the vehicle stalled due to lack of petrol. She called a relative and sent him her location on the Motorway. When the relative arrived at the location, he saw the victim driving the car towards them with broken window panes.

The woman told police that she was waiting for the family to arrive to pick her and the children when two armed assailants allegedly attacked her.

One suspect hit the car with clubs and the other held them hostage at gunpoint. The attackers then took her and the children to a nearby forested area where the victim claims they gang raped her. Later on, they robbed her of valuables and left her stranded.

Accused Shafqat nabbed

After a few days of the tragic incident, Punjab police arrested one of the key suspects in Motorway rape case from Dipalpur.

Shafqat is a friend of prime suspect Abid and confessed his involvement in the motorway gang-rape case. Shafqat was apprehended on pointation of his friend Waqarul Hassan who was arrested soon after the rape incident.

Later, another accused, identified as Abbas, also surrendered to the police. Abbas was the brother-in-law of Waqar.

However, both Abbas and Waqar denied involvement in the case. After investigations, the police released both of them.

Shocking Revelations

During the course of interrogation, suspect Shafqat transpired that he along with Abid had planned to commit robbery on the Motorway. He said they were drunk and under the influence of alcohol.

He highlighted that accused Abid broke the window of the car in which the victim was seated and injured his arm.

He revealed after robbing the woman, they took her and children out of the car and took them in the bushes. There they sexually assaulted the woman and fled.

Shafqat told the investigators that they are habitual criminals and had committed robberies and are also involved in rape incidents. He said after committing the offence, they would escape to Kacha area to hide and evade arrest.

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