Main suspect of gang rape case arrested

Police say they are close to arresting other accused nominated by TikToker

LAHORE:

The prime suspect of the gang rape case of a TikTok girl has been arrested from Jhelum.

The suspect identified as Sheraz had fled from the provincial capital after the incident. Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP) Investigations Zeeshan Asghar said the police had formed a special team that arrested the accused from Jhelum on Wednesday.

“We will soon arrest the other suspect Asif too.”

A couple of days back, the victim had registered a first information report (FIR) claiming that she was molested by Sheraz and his accomplices in the wee hours of the night when she went to meet him on a proposed location. She stated in the complaint that she had befriended Sheraz a few weeks back through TikTok and the two had decided to meet in person on July 13.

The accused had allegedly asked her to sit in the car where he and his friends raped her on gunpoint and later threw her out of the vehicle in the morning.

Meanwhile, police sources revealed that in the past the victim had filed rape cases in other police stations of the city too. The sources claimed that she had reached reconciliation with the suspects in two cases.

Published in The Express Tribune, July 16^th, 2020.