LAHORE: A judicial magistrate on Monday granted Defence-C police a further four-day physical remand of four suspects, including one related to a senior political figure, in a case of alleged abduction and rape of two foreign women.

The suspects were produced before Judicial Magistrate Azhar Mahmood at the Cantonment Courts on the expiry of their previous remand.

The investigating officer (IO) sought further custody of the suspects to complete the investigation. He said police had recovered the suspects’ mobile phones and the vehicle allegedly used in the commission of the offence. However, he said the recovery of money allegedly linked to the case was still pending.

Advocate Salman Shahid appeared on behalf of three suspects while no counsel appeared for the prime suspect, a relative of a political leader.

Opposing the remand request, the defence counsel argued that police had failed to disclose what it achieved during the previous 10-day remand. He contended that the complainants had identified only four suspects, but police were arbitrarily implicating additional individuals in the case. The lawyer stated that no identification parade of the suspects had yet been conducted. He argued that, under the law, the investigation should have been carried out by a female police officer. He asked the court to discharge the three suspects from the case.

BAIL DISMISSED: A sessions court on Monday dismissed the interim pre-arrest bail of the Defence C station house officer (SHO) for non-prosecution in a case of barging into the official residence of a judicial magistrate.

Additional District and Sessions Judge Abdul Quddus passed the order after SHO Faryad failed to appear before the court upon expiry of his bail period. According to the FIR, SHO Faryad is accused of visiting the judicial magistrate’s residence and threatening him.

Published in Dawn, July 14th, 2026