Yasmin had visited the police station earlier in an attempt to look for her missing son, however she did not file an FIR. PHOTO: FILE
GUJRANWALA: The case of a nine year old kidnapped boy named Rehman, became known when it was found that his own mother had kidnapped him for ransom, under the influence of a local pir in Gujranwala. The kidnapping plot also lead to information about women being allegedly raped by the same pir, named Ali*.
A message was received on Februrary 22, stating a ransom amount of Rs1 million for the missing boy. When the phone number, which was used to send the text message was traced by the police, the SIM card in question belonged to a man named Asghar.
Upon arrest, Asghar stated that the Ali had borrowed money from him on the pretext of doubling it and was refusing to return it. Asghar suspected that Ali could be responsible for framing him in the kidnapping case. He also went to say that Rehman’s mother, Munawwar Yasmeen and a maternal uncle were also a part of the scheme.
Police investigations revealed that Rehman had been sent to his father, Arshad, who then took him to Lahore. Arshad was not aware of the kidnapping plan and was taking Rehman to the Data Darbar shrine on the instructions of the mother. It was alleged that Rehman was kidnapped by Ali and his mother from the local shrine or nearby.
Admitting to his criminality in this entire kidnapping saga, the local pir told Express News that “all of this my fault. I did everything and I’m the criminal in this case.”
When asked about who assisted him in this kidnapping, the local pir said, “I had only one accomplice, Munawwar Yasmin. The boy’ father Arshad, is innocent.”
Defending the kidnapping bid, he also said that he and Yasmin had to do it because they had to pay off Rs0.1 million in debts.
In her defence, Yasmeen accused the pir of having raped her 3 daughters in an attempt to pressurize her. According to her, she had no choice but to conform, given the number of threats she was receiving from the pir.
“How will I live?” she asked.
Yasmin had visited the police station earlier however she did not file an FIR against Ali, the local pir.
The DSP, Central Intelligence Agency assured Express News that the pir and Yasmin had been arrested. He guaranteed that he will investigate the kidnapping case and rape allegations.
According to him, other people have also reported that this local pir raped women once he called them in for Taweez.
*The name of the pir has been changed
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