MULTAN-Police finally succeeded in laying hands on the prime accused of revenge-rape case as Ashfaq, the rapist of the second girl, was caught in an overnight raid in the wee hours of Saturday, police sources confirmed.
Besides Ashfaq, two more members of Panchayat (village council) namely Rafiq and Hameed were also arrested by the police. Sources revealed that three separate teams had been constituted by the police department to catch the accused which succeeded in catching them. An FIR (No-517/17) had been registered against 29 accused and all have been rounded up.
Sources disclosed that the three-member inquiry team had started its investigation and the statements of affected girls, personnel from Women Police Station and the members of the Panchayat were recorded besides quizzing the main culprit Ashfaq.
The horrific rape incidents, in which two girls were subjected to sexual assaults separately, took place in Rajapur Village of Multan in precincts of Muzaffarabad police. The first incident took place on July 16 and the other on the night between July 17 and 18. A family accused one Omar of raping their girl on which a Panchayat (village council) was convened which ordered the family of the boy to produce the sister of Omar to be raped by Shafiq, the brother of the raped girl.
The incident shook entire country and the Chief Justice of Pakistan also took suo moto notice, asking the IG Punjab to submit a report on it. Similarly, the Punjab Government has constituted a the three-member committee, comprising Chairman Chief Minister Inspection Team, RPO Sargodha and another senior police officer namely Malik Abu Bakar, to investigate into the incident. The committee has reach Multan and the investigations are underway. The Committee has been directed by the Punjab Chief Minister to submit its report within 72 hours of its inception.