Motorway gang-rape case: One more FIR against suspect Abid Ali traced

BAHAWALPUR: The investigators have traced one more First Information Report (FIR) against one of the prime suspects in motorway gang-rape case, Abid Ali, over his alleged involvement in a robbery case, ARY News reported on Wednesday.

Earlier, the Punjab government and provincial police department had confirmed that Abid Ali had been nominated in eight cases across the region. It emerged today that overall nine cases were registered against the suspected criminal who is also accused of gang-raping a woman on Lahore’s link road.

The latest discovery was made after the investigators found Abid Ali and Babar Ali’s nomination in dacoity cases at Faqirwali police station. Babar Ali is the brother of another suspect, Shafqat Ali, in the gang-rape case.

Read: ‘DNA matched’: Criminal record of prime suspect in motorway gang-rape surfaces

The FIR 19/529 filed on October 23 – 2019 stated that Abid, Babar and his accomplice had robbed the house of a widow.

Earlier, the prime accused in motorway gang rape case Abid Ali had been arrested four times previously over his involvement in various criminal activities.

According to sources privy to details, the accused, Abid Ali, is a paid killer and had murdered people in exchange for Rs 25,000. “Besides working as a shooter, he is also in touch with various absconders,” they said.

The sources claimed that police had carried out raids in various parts of the Punjab and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) provinces including Samundri, Bahawalpur, Nowshera, and Bahawalnagar to arrest him.

Read: ATC sends motorway gang-rape suspect on 14-day judicial remand

Moreover, the police had released three suspects in the case, Abbas and his two brothers, while their relative Waqar is still in the police custody and his fate would be decided after report of his DNA test.

The prime suspect in Lahore’s motorway gang-rape case had been identified as 27-year-old Abid Ali s/o Akbar Ali whose DNA sample was matched with evidence collected from the victim who had been sexually assaulted in front of her children last week on Lahore-Sialkot road.

Sources had told ARY News that the investigators traced a previous criminal record of the prime suspect, ‘a resident of Fort Abbas’ which revealed him as a serial rapist and his involvement in various robbery incidents.

The suspected criminal along with accomplices had also raped two women including mother and her daughter in 2013 after storming into their house.