LAHORE: Police in Multan on Saturday booked and arrested a university student on charge of extorting a famous Naat Khwan a day after she lodged an FIR of rape against him and others with the women police station.

On Saturday, the women police station had registered a rape case against the Naat Khwan, on complaint of the girl, a Pharm-D student at the Bahauddin Zakariya University.

In her FIR, she said she was living in a rented flat near 9 No Chowk. She received a call from her two landlords on Nov 5 who asked her to vacate the flat within hours as they had sold it. She pleaded with the landlords that she could not leave the flat so quickly and sought time.

The landlords asked her to meet the new owner (Naat Khwan) to make request herself, saying that they would support her. She said she went to meet the new owner at his residence at Liberty Home on the Bypass Road where both landlords and their journalist friend, working with an Urdu daily, were also sitting.

She said her landlords and their friend left the house on some pretext and the Naat Khwan raped her. She locked herself in the washroom and called police helpline 15 but did not get any response. She said she sought help from a lawyer friend and sent him the location. He contacted the police and recovered.

The girl said police took her to the Bahauddin Zakariya (BZ) Police Station where the landlords came and requested her not to register the case. She alleged that police officials also supported the suspects. They called lawyers and put Rs2.7m in her lap. She said after being disappointed by the police though she had the audio recording of the rape, she approached the women police station for registration of case.

Sources said the suspects forced her to take money and sign a stamp paper for reconciliation in front of the police station.

On Sunday, police also registered an extortion case against the girl and her seven accomplices on behalf of the state (not the Naat Khwan) and took her into custody.

The FIR, available with Dawn, states the woman had confessed to her crime of extortion during interrogation, stating that she and her seven accomplices, including the two landlords, her lawyer and the journalist made a plan to call Naat Khwan to their flat for a party. They said the girl and her accomplices put pressure on the Naat Khwan and extorted Rs2.7m from him for settlement.

Multan City Police Officer Sadiq Ali Dogar claimed the extortion case was registered against the girl after investigation. He accused the girl of being involved in a honey-trap gang, saying that the girl and her accomplices had been arrested for investigation. However, though women police station had booked the Naat Khwan on rape charge, he was not arrested or probed.

Published in Dawn, November 10th, 2024