RAWALPINDI: Police were jubilant after a suspect on its wanted list for his involvement in kidnapping and sexually assaulting children in Punjab was rounded up and sent to Adiala jail on Friday for an identification parade.

The police had already announced a reward of Rs50,000 for the informer leading to arrest of the ‘most wanted’ suspect who would allegedly kidnap minor girls and then leave them abandoned in Rawalpindi. The suspect was identified as Ziaullah Khan, aged between 45 and 50.

According to a senior police officer, the police have decided to announce a reward for the information leading to the arrest of a criminal who had been involved in more than two similar cases of kidnapping minor girls on his motorcycle and later dropping them near their homes.

The police had also released a fade-out picture of the suspect assuring that the name of the informer would be kept secret.

In Rawalpindi, a teenage girl was kidnapped by an unidentified person after she left her house for a nearby shop to buy some sweets in Dhoke Elahi Bakhsh about two weeks ago. She was however dropped in the street by the kidnapper.

A similar case had also been reported in the city area where the police launched a massive search for the suspect and finally arrested him on Thursday and later produced him in a local court of magistrate who sent him to Adiala jail for identification parade.

At the jail, the plaintiffs and witnesses of numerous cases will take part in the identification process, which is part of the trial. Afterwards, the physical remand of the suspect from the court would be secured to further interrogate him, a senior police official said.

According to the police, as many as 29 cases had been registered against the suspect in Punjab, including four in Rawalpindi of attempted abduction and sexual abuse of minor girls and one in Islamabad. Also, 15 cases were registered in Mianwali district, seven in Layyah district and two in Muzaffargarh.

After the suspect was arrested on Thursday night from Adiala Road, the motorcycle allegedly used by him in the kidnapping of children was also recovered. The complainants of the cases, registered against the suspect, were also informed about the arrest. The police said they had also been asked to register pending cases against the suspect.

According to the preliminary police investigation, the suspect had contracted three marriages and had five sons and two daughters. However, he had divorced two of his wives.

The suspect belongs to Mianwali district and had also lived in Karak for some time. The police claimed that the suspect had also been involved in shop and house robberies.

Sadiqabad SHO Shujaat Ali Babar told Dawn that the arrest of the suspect came about after he was tracked with the help of information technology section of police. He said that Ziaullah had lived in Khurram Colony, Sadiqabad, for a few months and then shifted to Dhoke Rajgan on Adiala Road.

Published in Dawn, August 3rd, 2019