KARACHI: The principal of a private school was on Monday arrested for subjecting several women to a sexual assault and filming the act, police said.

Malir SSP Hassan Sardar told the media that 25 compromising videos of the suspect with different women had been recovered from his cell phone.

He said that the suspect had lured the women on the pretext of providing them jobs, raped them and made videos to blackmail them.

The SSP said five of his victims had been identified and investigators were trying to approach them.

Police claim to have recovered 25 videos from suspect’s cell phone; education minister orders probe

Education authorities claimed that the school in question was not a registered one and district administration was asked to seal its building.

Giving details of the incident, Steel Town SHO Nand Lal told Dawn that the principal of a private school in Gulshan-i-Hadeed was arrested after videos of the alleged rapes had gone viral on social media and shared on Whatsapp groups.

He said that the held suspect ‘confessed’ to have raped women in the school after luring them with the prospect of a job in the school and making their videos to blackmail them.

The SHO said that a technician, identified as Ali Lodhi, came across the videos while repairing CCTV cameras installed at the school. These videos were uploaded on social media platforms and then another person, identified as Shakeel, contacted the principal and asked him to pay Rs1 million as extortion, he said.

He said that the principal told investigators that he had given an application to the Malir City police station against Shakeel for demanding extortion from him.

He said that an FIR would be registered against the held suspect on behalf of the state as no victim had so far approached the police.

Meanwhile, Inspector General of Police Riffat Mukhtar Raja took notice of the incident and sought details from the Malir SSP.

He directed the police to ensure an impartial and transparent inquiry into the incident.

Education dept sets up probe body

Taking notice of the incident, the caretaker Sindh Minister For Education and Literacy Rana Hussain has asked authorities a fair investigation into the matter along with sealing the school premises.

In this regard a three-member inquiry committee has also been formed. The body would be headed by Deputy Director Qurban Ali Bhutto of the Directorate of Inspection and Registration of Private Institutions in Sindh and comprising Assistant Director Mumtaz Hussain and Jawaid Akhtar.

The committee will visit the school in question on Tuesday (today) and later submit its report to the Additional Director Rafia Javed .

Published in Dawn, September 5th, 2023