QUETTA, Jan 28: Police on Friday arrested a senior official of the Pakistan Petroleum Ltd and two former doctors of the Sui hospital in a gang-rape case that took place on Jan 3.

District Police Officer of Nasirabad, Ghulam Mehmood Dogar, told Dawn by telephone from Sui that police had arrested PPL's Sui gas field manager Pervez Jamola, former in-charge of the Sui hospital Dr Mohammad Ali and former chief medical officer Dr Usman Wada in Sibi after their bail before arrest applications were rejected by a sessions judge.

The three officials were accused of hiding facts in the assault case. They had been shifted to the Saddar police station at Dera Murad Jamali where they were being interrogated by police.

The two doctors on Thursday requested a judicial tribunal investigating the case that they should be given some time to record their.Their applications were accepted by Justice Ahmed Khan Lashari, who led the tribunal, and proceedings were adjourned till Monday.

Meanwhile, according to sources, a Defence Security Guards (DSG) official has been shifted to Quetta where army officials are conducting a separate inquiry into the incident.

Security at the gas field has been further strengthened where body search of all employees has been ordered. Even police officials are not being spared. Some of the employees who have been serving at the gas field for several years objected to the body search and termed it their insult.

However, they were told that the step had been taken on the direction of the PPL management. The authorities launched aerial patrolling of the Sindh-Balochistan border by helicopters on Friday, our correspondent adds from Jacobabad.

Sources said that helicopters were being used to a keep a vigil on the movement of miscreants along the border and in the Sui area. Areas under watch included Kandhkot, Kashmore, Bakhshapur, Tangwani, Ghouspur and Thul besides far flung areas along the border.