Four men involved in gang rapes, blackmail sent on judicial remand

A gang of four men involved in the gang rapes and blackmail of multiple women were sent to prison on judicial remand on Friday after they were produced in court by the police.

The four suspects – Daniyal Ahmed Solangi, Afaq Ahmed, Asad Khan Niazi and Ghufran Mirza – were arrested from Samanabad on Thursday night in an intelligence-based raid conducted in a public park.

The investigation officer produced them in the court of the judicial magistrate (Central) on Friday and said that illegal weapons including a sub-machine gun and two pistols were seized from them, while illicit videos were also found on their phones, which disclosed that they had been involved in the gang rapes and blackmail of several women.

According to the IO, during interrogation, Ghufran Mirza, one of the accused, confessed in a video statement that they have been involved in rape and other criminal activities. Mirza claimed that one of them is the maternal grandson of a politician, another is a doctor and one was the son of a bus conductor, the IO said.

He added that Mirza had confessed to raping a girl. He prayed to the court to grant physical remand of the four accused to police for further interrogation. The judge, however, declined the plea and ordered the suspects to be sent on judicial remand to a prison till March 28.

At the moment, the suspects have been charged with illegal weapons possession since the rape victims and their families have been hesitant to lodge a complaint.

Police action

Speaking to The News, District Central SSP Dr Rizwan Ahmed said that they came to know about the gang when the father of one of the rape victims approached them almost a week ago.

According to the SSP, the father did not want to put his or his daughter’s name in a formal complaint, but told them that a man had befriended his daughter on social media and later asked her to come meet him.

But when she went to see him, he and his friends gang-raped her and made a video of the crime. Since then, they had been blackmailing her. Ahmed said police launched an inquiry to find the man who had been identified by the victim’s father. Through his social media account, police was able to trace him and then arrested him. Once in custody, he gave the names of his three friends who had been involved in the crimes with him.

“Since the complainant wanted his and his daughter’s identity to be kept undisclosed, police have registered a case against the arrested suspects on behalf of the state,” the SSP added. Amir Azam, the SHO of Samanabad police station, told The News that two of the suspects were residents of Azizabad and two others lived in DHA.

Speaking about the modus operandi of the gang, the SHO said one of them would befriend a girl on social media and ask her to meet him. When she arrived at the set location, he and his friends would then rape her and film it. They did this to several women and would use the videos to blackmail them for more sexual assaults.

The policeman added that the suspects used farmhouses and a rented apartment in Nazimabad for their illicit activities. Several videos were found in their mobile phones, emails and on social media accounts.