PESHAWAR: Four suspects arrested in connection with the alleged gang rape of two women in Peshawar were killed on Friday after unidentified gunmen attacked a police party transporting them to the scene of the alleged crime, police said.
The four men had been arrested on Sunday night over the alleged assault at a rented house in Garhi Mosam Khan. A Peshawar judicial magistrate had granted police one-day physical remand of the suspects on Thursday for further investigation.
Peshawar Capital City Police Officer (CCPO) Mian Saeed Ahmad said the suspects were being taken to Garhi Mosam Khan, on the outskirts of the city, to identify the location where the alleged crime took place when unidentified attackers opened indiscriminate fire on the police party.
Police said none of their personnel was injured in the attack.
The four deceased suspects were identified as Aamir, son of Iftikhar; Jalal alias Raja, son of Miraj; Chacha, son of Qadus; and Amdas.
“Weapons allegedly used in the crime had also been recovered from the arrested suspects,” the CCPO said.
Ahmad said police would continue taking indiscriminate action against social evils, anti-state elements and criminal elements.
The arrests followed an incident in which armed men allegedly entered a rented house on Ring Road, within the jurisdiction of Rehman Baba Police Station, and sexually assaulted two women. Police said the attackers also took the women’s mobile phones.
SSP Operations Farhan Khan, providing details of the case at a press briefing on Wednesday, said the two women were co-wives and were at their rented home when the suspects allegedly entered the premises.
According to Khan, the assailants held the women’s husband at gunpoint and tied him up before allegedly assaulting the women. Children who were present in the house were also allegedly threatened and intimidated.
Police subsequently registered a case at Rehman Baba Police Station under multiple provisions of the Pakistan Penal Code, including Sections 170, 375-A, 377-B, 395 and 449, relating to offences including impersonating a public servant, gang rape, rape, dacoity and house trespass.
The case also includes Section 50 of the Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa Child Protection and Welfare Act 2010.