LAHORE:
The brother-in-law of one of the prime accused in the motorway gang-rape case surrendered to the police on Monday.
Abbas, a resident of Sheikhupura, is the brother-in-law of Waqarul Hassan, one of the two prime accused in the case.
He has claimed in his statement that he was using the sim card which was registered in the name of Hassan and he had contacted Abid Ali, the second prime accused, around 10 days ago. However, he also denied his involvement in the heinous crime and pleaded innocence.
Abbas surrendered before police in Sheikhupura. He further claimed that he worked with Abid in a steel factory and had no other connection to him. He said that he was ready to present himself for interrogation at any forum. Abbass's family has also pledged his innocence stating that he had no criminal record.
On Sunday, the gang-rape case took a turn as one of the suspects pointed out by Punjab Chief Minister Usman Buzdar along with IG Police Inam Ghani denied his involvement in the incident after appearing before the police.
Punjab Information Minister Fayyazul Hassan Chohan confirmed that suspect Waqarul Hassan had surrendered before the police. Reportedly, Hassan had appeared before Anti-Organised Crime Cell (CIA) Model Town.
He denied any involvement in the case and maintained that his brother-in-law Abbas was using a SIM registered against his name.
“The number that came forth in geo-fencing is in his [brother-in-law’s] use,” Hassan said in his statement before the police. The police then decided to conduct his DNA test for confirmation.
The provincial information minister also confirmed the suspect’s statement saying that Hassan had pointed towards Abbas and police were on to arrest him.
He said that over two dozen teams of police were searching for the accused in the case.
“This is due to their [police] hectic efforts that the accused were identified within 72 hours,” he said.
Chohan continued that Hassan had no other option than to appear before the police and noted that the suspects were alerted after the information about them had gone into the public domain.
The provincial information minister recalled that the IG police in the meeting before the news conference had said that the suspects would be arrested within an hour and admitted of mismanagement when it came to press conferences.
Meanwhile, the criminal record of prime accused Abid Ali was brought to the fore on September 13.
Several cases of theft, robbery, dacoity, murder and rape had been registered against him, and reportedly, his family members had also been involved in criminal activities.
The prime accused is also nominated in a first information report for a gang rape during dacoity.
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