KARACHI, June 18: The additional district and sessions judge-IV, East, Aftab Ahmed Bughio, on Wednesday deferred the indictment of the accused in a gang-rape case due to the absence of the investigation officer till June 30.

The judge directed the investigation officer, Sabir Hussain, to appear in court on the next hearing and inform the court about the progress and details of investigations against the absconders in the case pertaining to the gang-rape of an 18-year-old woman on the premises of Mazar-i-Quaid.

According to prosecution, the woman was subjected to sexual assault after being kidnapped at the mausoleum by five unidentified men on the night of March 15. She was found in an unstable condition outside the mausoleum on March 17.

On the complaint of her father, the case (FIR No 50/2008) was registered at Brigade police station under Section 365/B of the Pakistan Penal Code (the section was inserted through the Protection of Women Act 2006).

Police arrested an assistant manager security of the mausoleum, an accountant and a personal assistant to the resident engineer of the Quaid-i-Azam Mausoleum Management Board for his alleged involvement in the case.

Both the suspects are in jail custody.