Motorway rape case: Prime suspect Abid Malhi arrested from Faisalabad

FAISALABAD: The Punjab police on Monday arrested Abid Malhi, the main suspect in the Lahore motorway gang-rape case from Faisalabad, ARY News reported.

According to police, Lahore motorway gang-rape suspect Abid Malhi was arrested from Faisalabad and has been shifted to Lahore for further interrogation.

Special Assistant to Prime Minister (SAPM) for Political Communication Dr Shahbaz Gill taking to Twitter also confirmed the arrest of the prime suspect, Abid Malhi, involved in the gang-rape of a woman on the Lahore-Sialkot motorway.

عابد ملہی گرفتار ہو گیا ہے۔ انشااللہ قانون کے مطابق سزا ملے گی۔

— Dr. Shahbaz GiLL (@SHABAZGIL) October 12, 2020

How was motorway rape case suspect Abid Malhi arrested by police?

The Punjab police arrested Abid Malhi, the main suspect in the Lahore motorway gang-rape case by conducting a raid at Manga Mandi, some 111 kilometers away from Faisalabad.

Sources told ARY News that the police conduct a raid at Tandlianwala Tehsil of Faisalabad to arrest the key suspect in the motorway rape case but Malhi managed to escape from the scene moments before the police party reached there.

Later, acting on the information about the presence of Malhi at his relative’s house in Manga Mandi, the police conducted a raid at the house and apprehend the prime suspect in the motorway rape case.

He has been shifted to Lahore for interrogation in the case, said police sources.

Motorway rape case

On September 9, the woman along with her children was waiting for help on the Lahore-Sialkot motorway after her car ran out of fuel when she was forcefully brought out of the car at gunpoint and gang-raped in Gujjarpura area on the outskirts of the provincial.

The police have already arrested another prime suspect named Shafqat, accused in a motorway gang-rape case in Lahore on September 14.

An anti-terrorism court sent the co-suspect in the motorway gang-rape case, Shafqat, to judicial lockup for 14 days and directed the jail authorities to hold his identification parade under special arrangements.

Narrating the horrific incident, the accused, Shafqat, told investigators that they were intoxicated at the time of the incident and initially planned to commit a robbery. Abid smashed the glasses of the vehicle and injured his hand in the process, he said adding that after looting the victim they decided to sexually assault her.

“We decided to bring her off-road and after stiff resistance, took away her children to the nearby bushes to drag the woman there.” “The woman then followed us,” he said adding that they raped the woman in the bushes.

He said that they have committed various criminal activities at the same spot and used to block vehicles’ passage using stones and wood pieces.

Shafqat in his statement to police said that they spent the next day after the motorway gang-rape incident in the Qila Sattar Shah area of Sheikhupura district. “The next day, I went to Dipalpur while Abid went to meet his father in Manga Mandi.”