Station House Officer (SHO) Digri, who was earlier suspended and arrested on charges of raping a 20-year-old mentally challenged girl from Lahore, on Saturday escaped from police custody in Mirpurkhas district of Sindh.
Taking notice of the incident, Mirpurkhas Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP) Usman Ghani Siddiqui reached the spot and ordered the registration of a FIR against four policemen including Ghulam Farooque, Arif Soomro, Wazir and Mohammad Saleem Chang.
He also suspended SP Satellite Town Jan Mohammad Mugheri, who was earlier appointed as the inquiry officer to complete a thorough probe into the matter within three days.
Earlier during the day, FIR No. 42 was registered against Digri SHO Mohammad Aslam Jamali under Section 376 of the Pakistan Penal Code on the victim’s complaint, according to Mirpurkhas Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP) Usman Ghani Siddiqui.
SSP Ghani said that all accused in both the FIRs would be arrested soon. He added that the victim is safe and under the protection of police in Mirpurkhas city.
He further said that he was himself investigating the incident after the dramatic turn of events in the case.
SSP Ghani said that a probe was also under way to ascertain who had brought the girl from Lahore to Mirpurkhas and added that he was searching her relatives in the district.
Eyewitnesses said that the girl had arrived in Digri town from Lahore’s Garhi Shahu area a few months earlier to visit her relatives, and had approached SHO Jamali on Friday night to register a complaint regarding harassment by some local youths.
SSP Ghani had earlier said that when he arrived at Digri police station on Saturday morning, the girl accused SHO Jamali of raping her the night before in his official quarters near the police station and an FIR was subsequently lodged.
“She has been sent for a medical check-up in Mirpurkhas under police protection,” Ghani had said, adding that, “I myself will supervise the case, which is in my district, so that the accused cannot escape.”
