Islamabad police arrest fifth suspect in couple assault case

ISLAMABAD: The Islamabad police, after the arrest of four suspects allegedly involved in the torture of a couple, on Friday said that a fifth suspect, Bilal Marwat, has been arrested.

The arrest came a few hours after the capital's top cop gave a briefing to Prime Minister Imran Khan on the matter.

Islamabad Inspector General of Police (IGP) Qazi Jamilur Rehman informed the prime minister that he was personally monitoring the case.

In a statement, the PM's Office said that the top cop had informed the premier that he was overseeing the matter to build a strong case and get the suspects convicted.

The IGP said that the police were "using all available resources and scientific methods" to gather evidence against the suspects, the PM's Office stated, adding that he had also informed the prime minister about the law and order situation in the capital.

Yesterday, the prime minister had taken notice of the incident and directed the IGP to use all of the police's energies to bring all the people involved to justice and share a report with the PM Office.

The main accused, Usman Mirza, and his two accomplices Hafizur Rehman and Farhan Shaheen Awan were arrested on Wednesday by police after a video of the couple being assaulted, sparked outrage on social media, with #ArrestUsmanMirza appearing among the top trends on Twitter.

The fourth accused named in the FIR was arrested yesterday, according to an update by the Islamabad police on its Twitter handle.

In the disturbing video, Mirza can be seen violently thrashing and harassing the young couple in a room full of other men. Old videos showing his weapons also came to light later.

Mirza threatened the young man and woman when some people tried to stop him. He is a property dealer.

Court grants 4-day physical remand of three suspects

Earlier today, an Islamabad judicial magistrate granted a further four days physical remand of three suspects, who were allegedly involved in the torturing and blackmailing of the couple after recording their disturbing video.

The three suspects, Usman Mirza, Atta Ur Rehman, and Farhan, were produced before the court of Judicial Magistrate Waqar Gondal by the Golra Police Station.

During the hearing, the police requested the court to grant further physical remand of the suspects as they had to recover the gadgets used in the crime.

The counsels for the suspects, however, opposed the physical remand plea and adopted the stance that the police had also demanded seven days remand on the last hearing.

They said the court had to view the police record instead of social media content, adding that the mobile phone and weapon had been recovered from the main suspect.

The defence lawyer said that at this time, videos were the only record available.

The counsel for Rehman and Farhan said they had been stopping the main suspect from committing the crime.

The incident was very shameful but the two accomplices had no role in it, the lawyer said.

The prosecutor adopted the stance that this case comes under Section 354A.

He requested the court grant maximum remand of the suspects so that other mobile phones and all videos pertaining to the incident could be recovered for investigation.

On the query of the judge, the investigation officer said he had applied to obtain the locations of the suspects at the time of the incident.

The defence lawyers said the police should recover the material from the main suspect but the other two should be sent to jail on judicial remand.

The prosecutor said a two-day remand would be insufficient in such a big crime case.

The court instructed the Federal Investigation Agency's (FIA) anti-cyber crime cell to identify the person who uploaded the videos on social media.

After listening to the arguments, the court granted four days of physical remand of the suspects to the police.

A case against the men has been registered at the Golra police station under Sections 341 (punishment for wrongful restraint), 354A (assault or use of criminal force to woman and stripping her of her clothes), 506 (ii) (punishment for criminal intimidation) and 509 (word, gesture or act intended to insult the modesty of a woman) of the Pakistan Penal Code, Dawn had reported.

— Additional input from APP