'Boss' nabbed in foreigners' rape case, LHC told

LAHORE: The Lahore High Court (LHC) on Monday disposed of a petition seeking the recovery of Waheed Tahir, also known as boss, after police informed the court that he had been arrested in the case involving the alleged kidnapping and rape of two foreign women and had already been produced before a magistrate.

Justice Abhar Gul heard the petition filed by the suspect’s mother, Mumtaz Bibi. She had argued that police had taken her son into custody in connection with the case but did not present him before a competent court within the required 24-hour period. She requested the court to order his release, contending that his detention was unlawful.

During the hearing, a state counsel submitted a police report stating that Tahir had been arrested in the case, presented before a judicial magistrate and handed over to police on a five-day physical remand for investigation. After taking the report on record, the high court declared the petition infructuous and disposed of the matter.

Magistrate grants police remand

In a parallel development, a magisterial court handed Tahir over to police on five-day physical remand in the same case. A duty judicial magistrate approved the remand on Sunday until July 24 and recorded in a written order that the suspect had been brought to court in an ambulance.

According to the investigating officer, the suspect had been arrested a day earlier in connection with the case. The officer told the court that police needed his custody to recover the weapon allegedly used in the offence, as well as ransom money, jewellery and a laptop.

Police further stated that Tahir had been named in the case through a supplementary statement recorded during the course of the investigation. Accepting the prosecution’s request, the magistrate remanded him in police custody for interrogation until July 24.

Case registered at Defence-C police station

The case was registered at the Defence-C police station. Police had earlier arrested seven other suspects in the case. Four of them were remanded in police custody on three occasions before being sent to judicial remand.

On Monday, a magisterial court sent three other suspects to 14-day judicial remand after Defence-C police produced them on completion of their physical remand. The investigation officer requested that they be sent to judicial custody, and the magistrate accepted the request while directing police to submit an investigation report at the next hearing.