Men linked to Lahore Motorway rape case ‘identified’, but not arrested yet

Punjab Chief Minister Sardar Usman Buzdar told the media on Saturday evening that law enforcement authorities have traced the culprits who raped a woman on Lahore-Sialkot Motorway this week, but the accused haven’t been arrested yet. 

Addressing a press conference in Lahore, the Punjab chief minister said the culprits deserve no mercy. He said he has issued Lahore CCPO Umar Sheikh a show-cause notice over his irresponsible remarks about the rape victim and sought a reply from him within seven days. He said that law enforcement authorities succeeded in tracing the culprits even in less than 72 hours. He said the culprits would be arrested soon and punished according to the law. He said the Lahore rape incident was extremely condemnable. 

Punjab Police Inspector General Inam Ghani, who accompanied the chief minister to the press conference, said that accused Abid Ali’s DNA has matched with the DNA of the culprit that was found on the crime scene. He identified the other accused as Waqar-ul-Hassan. He said that Abid Ali’s record has been collected from Bahawalnagar and a woman from his family has been taken into custody. 

The Punjab Police chief said that police conducted raids in Lahore and Sheikhupura, but haven’t succeeded yet in arresting the culprits. He said that police raided Abid’s house in Sheikhupura in civvies, but he and his wife fled after seeing the police. He said that information was leaked to the media and social media therefore the culprits managed to flee. He said that police succeeded in reaching the culprits through a mobile SIM card. 

Also, the Punjab government has announced a Rs2.5 million each reward for anyone who would help the police reach the alleged rapists.