No arrests yet in Lahore motorway gang-rape case: Punjab IG

Punjab's top police official on Saturday confirmed that no arrests have yet been made in the Lahore motorway gang-rape case and the news of the development is "false and contradicted facts".

“The news on various TV channels and social media regarding the arrest of the accused was false and contradicted the facts,” said Punjab Inspector-General Police Inam Ghani. “The photos of the accused and the woman being shared on social media are also false and fake.”

IGP Ghani added that he was personally monitoring the investigation of the case and would inform the media about if developments take place.

“Unconfirmed news not only affects the case but also misleads the public,” he added further.

He also urged the media to not air any news without confirmation.

On September 11, relevant authorities decided to go for a DNA census of the population residing in nearby villages after the investigation wing of the Lahore police failed to arrest the accused involved in the brutal sexual assault on a woman in front of her children during a robbery in Gujjarpura on September 9.

The failure raised serious question marks on the investigation capacity of the Punjab police. DNA profiling by the Punjab Forensic Science Agency (PFSA) will be the third high profile case, involving sexual violence, within a span of two years.

On the night of September 10, IGP Gani formed a six-member committee, headed by Deputy Inspector General Investigations, Lahore, Shahzada Sultan, to investigate the gage-rape case.

The other members of the committee include SSP Investigations, Lahore, Zeeshan Asghar, RO Special Branch, Lahore, Jahanzeb Nazir, RO CTD, Lahore, Naseeb Ullah Khan, SP CIA, Lahore, Asim Iftikhar and in charge anti-gender crime cell, Civil Lines, Fiza Azam.

The top police brass had deputed over two-dozen investigation teams to get hold of the accused. DIG Investigations of Lahore police Sahibzada Shahzada Sultan said that all the available resources have been used to solve the case.

Police had accessed CCTV footages, CDR analysis, geo-fencing, the arrest of history-sheeters to trace the suspects. The teams of Special Branch, CTD and other investigation agencies had also been employed for the purpose.

Besides using all the top investigators, the Lahore police had also mustered the help of Khojis –private investigators who in past used footprints to identify the criminals – as traditional means of investigations to find and trace the accused persons.

However, despite all these resources and supervision from top-most executive authorities of the country – Prime Minister Imran Khan’s adviser Shahzad Akbar, Punjab Chief Minister Usman Buzdar and Inspector General of Punjab Police Inam Ghani – the police could not make any headway, so far.