28 June 2004	Monday	09 Jamadi-ul-Awwal 1425

LAHORE, June 27: Dacoits gangraped the wife of a Wapda employee in Kahna on Saturday night. The Wapda employee told police that he was out of the city when the incident took place.

Quoting his wife, he said that five gunmen stormed into his two-room rented house and held up her at gunpoint.

He said the intruders collected cash and gold jewellery. Later, he alleged they locked his wife in a room and gangraped her.

He said he approached the area police who simply refused to register a case. He returned home and explained the event to neighbours and villagers.

The villagers gathered on the main road and blocked it. They burnt tyres and staged a protest against the police, demanding immediate arrest of the accused and registration of a case.

Senior police officers, including Investigation police chief SSP Chaudhry Shafqaat Ahmad, Model Town division SP Farhan Baig and investigation police SP Tahir Alam, reached the spot. On their intervention, a case was registered in this regard.

The investigation police chief told Dawnby phone that initial on-the-spot questioning had led them to some other aspects other than the robbery-cum-gangrape that needed to be probed.

He said the landlord of the Wapda employee was interested in his wife and the complainant also admitted the fact. He said the landlord would often visit the woman on one or the other pretext. The couple had a clear idea of the landlord's intentions, and for that they were looking for some other house on rent, Mr Shafqaat said. He said the landlord was taken into custody and was being quizzed.

The SSP said they needed just two days to make things clear. He said the intruders did not take away a TV set and a CD player from the house and they just made off with Rs3,000 that created suspicion. However, he said the robbery aspect was also being investigated.

Investigation police SP Tahir Aalam, however, claimed that the woman was raped by only one of the dacoits. Further investigation is under way.