No headway in probe

LAHORE: Police have arrested 14 suspects in the alleged gang-rape of a woman near Lahore-Sialkot Motorway in the limits of Gujjarpura police station.

Inspector General Punjab Inam Ghani has constituted a six-member special investigation team to investigate the incident. DIG Investigations Shahzada Sultan has been appointed chairman, while SSP Investigations Zeeshan Asghar, RO Special Branch Jahanzeb Nazir, RO CTD Naseebullah Khan, SP CIA Asim Iftikhar and in-charge Gender Crimes Civil Lines are members of the team. The chairman can get help from forensic team during investigation.

Twenty police teams have started investigating the incident. Police also received medico-legal report of the victim which confirmed rape. Swabs have also been sent to the Forensic Science Agency for chemical examination and DNA.

Capital City Police Officer (CCPO) Lahore Umar Shaikh said that urban and rural policing techniques are being used to catch the culprits. The DNA profiles of the 14 suspects have been sent to the forensic laboratory and four teams have been constituted to look into the case and round up the culprits involved in the incident. The 14 suspects were arrested through geo-fencing within the radius of five kilometres from motorway.

Umar Shaikh said that the culprits had bled when they broke the car’s window. He said that police had collected blood samples and sent them to the laboratory for tests.

He further said that there were only two villages in the forest on the left side of the motorway and one on its right side, hence, the culprits were within three to five kilometres of the scene of the crime.