Rape suspects killed in police encounter

Capital police say ‘gunmen’ riding motorcycle shot dead in ‘retaliatory fire’

ISLAMABAD:

Islamabad police on Thursday claimed that the suspects in the F-9 park rape case were killed in ‘retaliatory fire’ after they allegedly opened fire on policemen at a checkpoint in Sector D-12.

The police said that the two slain suspects, identified as Iqbal Khan and Nawab Khan, had allegedly opened fire at the police checkpoint late on Wednesday night and they were injured in the retaliatory fire. According to the police, later they succumbed to their injuries in the hospital on Thursday morning.

A 24-year-old woman was allegedly raped by two gunmen at F-9 Park on February 2 and since then, the police were under intense pressure for failing to trace the suspects despite having resources and surveillance camera footage at their disposal.

Police, however, did not confirm whether they got the blood sample from the slain suspects and cross-matched it with the sample of the victim to corroborate that the killed men were the actual rapists.

One source claimed that the victim was taken to the hospital to show her the faces of the slain suspects and she ‘identified’ them.

However, no senior police official confirmed to The Express Tribune that the rape victim identified her alleged rapists.

The capital police said that police personnel remained safe during the crossfire “due to safety measures”.

They also said that the "attackers" were wanted in serious crimes, including street crimes, adding that one of the accused had murdered during a robbery.

Police sources said that the police had obtained the footage of the two suspects from safe city cameras.

The police had been looking for them since the day the incident happened.

Police had taken more than 300 people into custody but the victim girl did not identify any of them.

Later the suspects were traced through the footage obtained from the safe city cameras.

Police said that they were engaged in routine checking at the police check post in Sector D-12 when suddenly two men on a motorcycle opened fire on the police. The policemen at the check post retaliated, in which both of them were seriously injured. They were brought to the hospital where they died.

Police said that during the investigation it transpired that the accused, Nawab Khan, hailed from Peshawar and Iqbal Khan from Swabi.

Police said that both the accused were also wanted by the police in connection with murder, robbery and street crime cases in the twin cities.

The accused were also wanted in the case of rape with a 24-year-old girl in F-9 Park, the police said. The rape case was registered at the Shalimar Police Station.

A senior officer of the police told The Express Tribune that a case of murder attempted murder and robbery was registered against the two accused at the Taxila police station of Rawalpindi in 2021.

Similarly, he said that a case of attempted murder and robbery was registered against the two accused at Islamabad's Shalimar police station on October 6, 2020.

He said that not only Islamabad police but also the Rawalpindi were on the lookout for 10 days to arrest the suspects.

He said that in the last 24 hours, the police had established pickets to arrest the real accused and special separate police teams also narrowed down their search around the accused.

When asked if the accused could have been arrested alive, he said that the policemen at the check-post did not know who these people were. “They were checking during their normal duty when the accused fired in fear of being caught by the police and in their effort to cross the check post by spreading panic,” the police officer said adding that but the policemen at check post opened fire in self-defence in which both the accused were killed.

He claimed that the police had announced last night about the police check posts installed for the safety of civilians.

He said that though the two accused involved in the rape case have been killed, police check posts will remain in place for the safety of the citizens. He said that people should cooperate with the police during checking.

He said that police officials have also been strictly instructed to deal with the public politely. They have also been instructed to treat women, children and senior citizens with special courtesy and respect, he said.

Earlier, the young woman was allegedly raped by two armed men at Fatima Jinnah Park on February 2. According to the victim, she was visiting the park along with a male companion when she was raped by the suspects at gunpoint.

The woman and a colleague were at the park when two armed suspects showed up and held them hostage and moved them to a forested area of the park.

The two armed men forced the woman and her colleague into nearby bushes at gunpoint before separating them. They then physically assaulted the woman when she pleaded and asked them to let her go. She even offered money to them to let her go but they didn’t relent, according to the FIR lodged by the victim at the Margala Police Station.

The attackers even threatened the woman that they would call more ‘friends’ to attack her if she did not stop raising her voice. The victim tried to run away but her attempts were foiled by the gun-toting attackers, the FIR said.

After raping her, the attackers returned all the things belonging to the victim and her colleague and even offered them a thousand rupees to keep quiet about the incident. According to the FIR, the alleged rapists told the victim that she should not have been in the park at that time of the night.

 

Published in The Express Tribune, February 17^th, 2023.