Punjab Information Minister Fayyaz-ul-Hasan Chohan on Thursday announced that the Lahore motorway gang-rape victim has identified both perpetrators of the crime.
“The lady has identified both Abid and Shafqat,” Chohan told a press conference in Lahore. “It was due to Waqar-ul-Hasan’s arrest that we were able to reach Shafqat,” he added.
Abid Malhi, the prime suspect in the case, remains at large, while Shafqat Ali was arrested on Monday for his alleged involvement in the case. The next day, he was remanded into police custody for 14 days by an accountability court.
On Thursday, law enforcement agencies recorded the initial statement of the wife of key suspect Abid Malhi. She was taken into custody on Wednesday night.
Hasnain Haider, a deputy superintendent (DSP) of the Crime Investigation Agency’s (CIA), said that Abid Malhi’s wife was arrested from the house of the suspect’s parents. In her initial statement, she said that she was unaware of Abid’s whereabouts who – according to her – escaped when law enforcement officials conducted a raid. After Abid escaped, his wife came to Manga Mandi in Lahore.
She further said that she has not been in contact with Abid, who continues to evade arrest. DSP Haider said that law enforcement officials were interrogating every person taken into custody so far but are yet to trace Abid’s location.
A day earlier, Inspector General of Punjab Police Inam Ghani had said some possible hideouts of Abid had been identified by law-enforcing agencies that were getting closer to the most-wanted criminal. A Punjab police team had conducted a raid on a ‘possible hideout’ of the suspect at Sheikhupura to arrest him, but to no avail.
