Lahore
As per major development after 20 days, the victim of the motorway rape case expressed willingness on Tuesday to record her initial statement over the telephone.
According to details, the woman is also ready to identify under-custody suspect Shafqat Ali. The police sources told that raids are being conducted in Lahore, Sheikhupura, Kasur, Sahiwal and Nankana Sahib to arrest the accused but he succeeds in fleeing every time while dodging the security personnel. Five relatives wife of Abid Ali were also detained for their statements.
The arrested persons were shifted to Lahore for further investigations. Earlier, Anti-Terrorism Court (ATC) had transferred Shafqat, accused of raping a woman on motorway near Gujarpura, to jail on a 14-day judicial remand. Shafqat had confessed to raping a woman on the motorway in his initial statement recorded to the police. He also confessed to committing 11 other such crimes with Abid Ali as well. Shafqat told police that they stayed at Qila Sattar Shah the night after the Lahore motorway incident. The next day, they split up with him going to Depalpur and Abid going to his father’s house in Manga Mandi.
He revealed that he had last contacted Abid three days ago. This confession comes after Shafqat’s DNA had matched with the samples collected from the crime scene.
Lahore High Court (LHC) had ordered the investigation authorities to arrest suspects involved motorway incident and sought inquiry report, copy of show-cause notice to Inspector General of Punjab Inam Ghani by Chief Minister Sardar Usman Buzdar, record of security arrangements and notification regarding formation of committee for probe into the incident. –INP
