RAWALPINDI: The police investigation into the alleged sexual assault of a university student by a married couple, who have been charged with sexually assaulting girls and women and filming them, has decided to obtain the suspects’ travel history from the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA).

A source close to the investigation told Dawn that the male suspect is an IT expert who has travelled to Dubai, Thailand, Azerbaijan and Turkey several times, while the female suspect has also made two or three trips to Dubai.

The police have not ruled out whether one of the suspects has links abroad and was selling pornographic videos. They have sought details of his financial transactions abroad as well as his local bank account to strengthen their claim.

The source said the police would contact the FIA for travel history of the suspect, who has travelled abroad a number of times despite not having any source of income.

The source said the police have also recovered 10 videos filmed by the female suspect. The police have decided to seek assistance from the FIA’s technical wing to preserve the evidence.

The police will send the 10 videos, which appear to show girls being sexually assaulted by one of the suspects, to the FIA’s technical wing for analysis, the source added.

The Punjab Forensic Science Agency also has the ability to analyse the videos, but the police believe the FIA’s technical wing has better facilities and the video evidence is vital to the case.

The source said the police are also trying to locate the facilitator in the case, and have not ruled out the involvement of someone else.

“Once the travel history of the suspect is obtained it will be easier for the police to check his sources of income and the involvement of other people,” the source said.

The suspects have been in police custody and have confessed to abducting and sexually assaulting 45 victims, most of whom are minors. The victims were allegedly trapped by the woman and then sexually assaulted by her husband.

The police have also contacted some other victims, asking them to register a case with the police. One of the victims agreed to come to the police but then refused to lodge a complaint, apparently because of the social stigma.

The city police officer (CPO) has ordered the registration of separate cases against the suspects under charges of sexual assault, filming pornographic videos and taking photographs of underage victims.

“If any family of the victims is reluctant to become plaintiffs because of social pressure, the police are ready to become the plaintiff in the said cases,” the CPO said.

Published in Dawn, August 20th, 2019