LAHORE: The investigation police have arrested another young suspect wanted in the fatal accident which had claimed lives of six members of a family in Defence Housing Authority (DHA) last week.

The police claimed that the underage suspect identified as Ibrahim was said to be the friend of prime suspect Afnan Shafqat who had allegedly hit the car of the family when they were on way back home after seeing a close relative at Phase-II.

In a related development, the police authorities have initiated a process to conduct the ossification test of Afnan Shafqat to determine his age as the matter has assumed significance after the addition of terrorism and murder charges in the already lodged FIR against the suspect.

Lahore Investigation DIG Imran Kishwar said the decision was made following the conflicting reports/claims either he was underage or teen. Initially, the police were told that the prime suspect was 17 years old, he said.

Police to opt for test to determine age of prime suspect

The DIG said the police would get permission from the magistrate concerned to go for the ossification test of Afnan Shafqat.

The ossification is a test that determines age based on the degree of fusion of bone by taking the x-ray of a few bones.

He said the ossification is the process of the bone formation based on the fusion of joints between birth and the age of 25 years in an individual.

To a question, the DIG said the activities like racing, one-wheeling and doing stunts on cars and motorbikes have come to an end at Phase V and Phase VII after the accident. The tragic incident had claimed the lives of Rukhsana Bibi (45), her son Husnain (25), daughter-in-law Ayesha (23), son-in-law Sajjad (30), four-month-old grandson Huzaifa, and granddaughter Anaya (4).

Initially, the police had nominated prime suspect Afnan in the FIR alone on the complaint of head of the victim family, Rafaqat Ali.

The police later added terrorism and murder charges and also expanded the scope of investigation when the complainant claimed that two more suspects were occupying the car.

The complainant had alleged that the suspects chased the car of his family and harassed the female members despite the fact that they had stopped them from doing so at a spot.

A police official said a DSP ranked officer, Raja Fakhar, was assigned responsibility to investigate the case when Punjab Chief Minister Mohsin Naqvi took notice of the incident and issued instructions to nab all those suspects who were present in the car.

He said suspect Ibrahim was on the front seat along with the driver [Afnan] when the accident took place.

He has also been taken into custody, the official said adding that the police teams were conducting raids to round up another suspect.

To a question, he said, father of prime suspect Afnan has gone into hiding fearing arrest by the police even though he had nothing to do with the case/incident.

Published in Dawn, November 21st, 2023