Five-day physical remand extended of four suspects in foreign women case

A judicial magistrate on Wednesday extended the physical remand of four suspects by five days in a case involving the alleged rape and abduction of two foreign women, directing police to produce them again on July 13.

Judicial Magistrate Azhar Mahmood announced the reserved order after hearing arguments from both sides at the district Cantt Courts.

Police on July 2 rescued two foreign women within hours of receiving an emergency complaint, arrested four suspects, and launched an investigation into allegations of kidnapping, ransom demands, and sexual assault. Those produced today were the second group of suspects presented before the court in the case.

On July 3, Judicial Magistrate Azhar Mahmood in Lahore had granted police a five-day physical remand of the four arrested suspects, identified as Raza Dar, Hassan Raza, Sajid Ali, and Sikandar Khan.

Earlier, police produced the four suspects, including Raza Dar, before the court with their faces covered and sought a further five-day physical remand.

During the hearing, the magistrate asked the prosecutor what progress had been made during the previous remand.

Prosecutor Mian Sajid told the court that the suspects' DNA samples and fingerprints had already been obtained. He said investigators now needed additional time to recover a vehicle, a laptop, cash, and a weapon allegedly linked to the case.

Counsel for suspects Sikandar and Sajid opposed the request for further physical remand, arguing that neither of their clients had been nominated in the FIR nor identified by the complainants in their statements recorded under Section 164 of the Code of Criminal Procedure.

The defence further claimed that the suspects had been implicated due to media attention surrounding the case and asserted that they had no previous criminal record.

After hearing arguments from both sides, the court initially reserved its verdict before allowing the police request and extending the physical remand of all four suspects for another five days.

Read: Lahore court grants five-day physical remand of three more suspects in foreign women abduction case

Separately, one of the arrested suspects, Hassan Raza, was seen having an informal conversation with his father inside the courtroom.

A judicial magistrate on Monday remanded three more suspects, Rizwan, Nawaz, and Nasir, in police custody for five days.

One of the suspects is related to an influential political figure, but Lahore Deputy Inspector General (Operations) Faisal Kamran, on Sunday, in a media briefing, assured that the suspect, reportedly linked to a senior government minister, will not be treated differently from any other criminal in the investigation.

The case

According to the Lahore DIG, the two foreign women arrived in Islamabad on June 26 before travelling to Lahore on June 29.

On Sunday, he said that at around midnight on July 1, the Safe City Authority received information from a man identified as Carlos, who reported that his daughter had been abducted in Pakistan and that he had received a ransom demand.

"Police subsequently launched an investigation using the relevant phone numbers, the vehicle's registration details, travel records, and footage from safe city cameras, while conducting raids in Shahdara, Defence, Sargodha, and other areas. The recovery of the women was our top priority," he said.

Kamran said investigators traced the family tree of a suspect and carried out raids at various locations. "During one such raid, residents of a house informed police that the suspect's family had previously lived there as tenants and was believed to have links with the deputy prime minister. The suspect was later identified as Mohammad Raza Dar," he added.

He said police verified the information with the suspect's family, obtained his phone number, and began tracing his location.

Read More: 4 arrested for sexual assault of foreign women

"The family would certainly have asked the suspect to surrender," he said.

The DIG said senior police officials and the government had been informed after investigators discovered the suspect's alleged links to a senior political figure. "We received strict instructions from the government that he should not be treated any differently from any other criminal," he said.

He added that investigators were also examining the possibility that a gang, rather than a single individual, was involved in the incident.

According to the DIG, the suspect was driving the two women to the airport when an altercation broke out inside the vehicle near Bhatta Chowk.

"During the scuffle, the vehicle collided with an object, after which the women jumped out and sought refuge at a nearby filtration plant, from where police recovered them safely," he added.

Kamran said judicial magistrates' orders were required before the women's medical examination could be conducted.

"As the magistrate was not on duty and the women were scheduled to leave Pakistan the following morning, a station house officer was sent to the magistrate's residence late at night to obtain the necessary orders. I apologise for that," he said.

Also Read: Locals nab foreigners trying to kidnap nomadic girls

The DIG said police contacted the embassies of Spain and the Netherlands after recovering the women. The Spanish embassy informed investigators that one of the women was a Venezuelan national.

Following consultations with the embassies, the women agreed to undergo medical examinations and later consented to recording their statements before a magistrate under Section 164 of the Code of Criminal Procedure.

Kamran said the embassies had also requested that the women be repatriated at the earliest, adding that police were continuing to investigate all aspects of the case.