LAHORE: Police on Tuesday arrested the alleged mastermind of the gang involved in honey trapping playwright Khalilur Rehman Qamar.

A senior official, on condition of anonymity, told Dawn that Hassan Shah and his accomplice, Rafiq, were arrested in Peshawar and brought to Lahore for investigation.

Earlier, police had arrested 12-member gang, including Amna Arooj, on July 21. The case took a sensational turn on Tuesday when a video clip surfaced on social media allegedly showing Qamar with a woman.

A police official told Dawn that investigation had revealed that Qamar and the woman were engaged in an ‘indecent activity’ when a video was recorded. He said the woman and her accomplices were using the video to blackmail Qamar.

Woman’s remand extended

The investigation also revealed that Qamar was fabricating the robbery and kidnap story and lodged the case just to retrieve and destroy the footage.

The Sundar Police Station had registered a case on charges of robbery, kidnap on the complaint of Qamar.

REMAND: An anti-terrorism court (ATC) extended the physical remand of Amna Arooj for two more days.

Police presented Arooj before the court on completion of her previous remand and sought extension.

The investigating officer stated that the police needed to recover the ransom amount.

When ATC Judge Khalid Arshad asked Arooj whether she knew about the money, she said it might be with Hassan Shah or Zeeshan, other suspects in the case.

A lawyer for Qamar said Arooj had close connections with the other suspects and knew all of them. He claimed that his client was a pious man.

The judge expressed surprise at the lawyer’s claim, saying, “A pious man usually offers tahajjud (night prayers) at four in the morning.”

Arooj started crying in the court, saying her father was ill and she had two sisters to take care of while she was the sole breadwinner of her family. She complained about injustice being done to her, expressing a desire for death due to her situation.

Arooj alleged that both Hassan Shah, a property dealer, and Qamar blackmailed her and added that Shah, who was like a brother to her, knew about Qamar’s blackmail. She claimed that both men were powerful and she got stuck between them.

She also revealed that Shah had leaked a video in which Qamar was insisting on a relationship with her.

The woman said she had invited Qamar to her residence but she did not kidnap him as the kidnap plan was orchestrated by Shah.

Published in Dawn, July 31st, 2024