LAHORE: Five unidentified armed men allegedly tortured a young man and kidnapped his teenage sister when he was going to drop her at her workplace in Hanjarwal area here on Friday.

The incident got attention of police and the public when a footage of the girl’s kidnap and torture of her brother went viral on social media.

The footage, recorded with a mobile phone camera by one of the kidnappers, showed the suspects badly thrashing and abusing the youth, later identified as Nauman, as his sister watches helplessly.

The police said the crime was committed near Hanjarwal from where the suspects kidnapped the girl at gunpoint.

The youth informed his mother about the incident who called the police and submitted a complaint against the suspects.

A police official said initial investigation revealed the girl was a housemaid and his brother was going to drop her at her workplace when she was kidnapped by the armed men.

He said the police lodged a kidnap and torture case against the suspects and dispatched a team that arrested the prime suspect, Afzaal, in a raid on a house.

The police investigators are interrogating the suspect to get information about his accomplices and arrest them, he said, hoping the girl would be recovered soon as the police have “reached close” to the kidnappers’ network.

Published in Dawn, June 18th, 2022