MULTAN, May 27: The victims of the New Multan police station gang-rape case iterated while deposing before a judicial inquiry officer on Thursday that they were criminally assaulted on May 14 last by six men, four of them in police uniform.

The victims 'S' and 'T' also stressed that they were raped at a police station after being abducted by two plainclothesmen in a blue mobile. Additional District and Sessions Judge Abdul Rahman has been asked to conduct a judicial inquiry into the case.

The probe has been initiated on the orders of the Lahore High Court chief justice. The Punjab IGP had requested the CJ to order an inquiry into the matter when the Multan police pleaded that they were not guilty in the investigation carried out by the local police officials.

Earlier, police had refused to register an FIR, but when the medical examination conducted on the orders of a local court confirmed that both were tortured and raped, a case was registered. The case was dubious in which New Multan police SHO Saeed Gujjar was made complainant.

From the very first day, the police had taken position that no policeman was involved in the crime and that the allegation was levelled only to bring a bad name to the 'highly respectable' force.

Later, they arrested Rana Sohail and Shahid Ashraf claiming that they were the actual culprits. DPO Hamid Mukhtar Gondal asserted during a press conference that the police should be admired for resolving the 'mystery' of the case.

The victims recorded their statements before a judicial magistrate under section 164 CrPC the same day when the DPO addressed the press conference. On May 25, the victims recognized Sohail and Shahid as two of the six perpetrators during an identification parade that was conducted at a local jail.

The police wasted no time in issuing a handout, claiming that the victims had identified the two arrested accused as the only perpetrators. Besides the victims, rickshaw driver Mazhar Hussain also appeared before the judicial inquiry officer. Police claimed that Mazhar was driving the rickshaw on which the victims were coming home when they were kidnapped.

Mazhar endorsed the police's version that two plainclothesmen, riding a Suzuki Mehran, intercepted them and introduced themselves as policemen before abducting 'S' and 'T'. He said four motorcyclists were also chasing the singers when the kidnapping incident occurred.