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Female student leads police to bust blackmailers

By: Javed Aziz Khan

PESHAWAR: The busting of a gang, members of which belonged to respectable families and involved in rape and blackmailing of young boys and girls, was made possible when a female student of the University of Peshawar approached the local police following her rape and blackmailing by the management of a guesthouse on the University Road.

Police busted the gang involved in the rape and blackmailing of over 20 young girls from respectable and notable families who mistakenly landed at the guesthouse located on the University Road in the jurisdiction of the Tehkal Police Station. The gang also used to lure males through five female prostitutes and blackmail them after making their films through a hidden camera fixed in the doors.

A police official said a female student of the University of Peshawar approached the authorities of the capital city police to narrate her tale of ordeal. “She said she went to the guesthouse along with a male friend last week when she found her university hostel closed. The girl admitted that she was late and after finding no place the two decided to stay at the guesthouse,” the official told The News.

The official added that the boy had to run away when the management of the guesthouse threatened to hand him over to police as he didn’t have any legitimate reason to stay with the girl. “He was told that the management would return the female to her family. In his presence, the guesthouse managers arranged for her a taxi to take her home,” explained the official.

However, the girl told the police that after boarding the taxi she was brought to the same guesthouse as the taxi driver too was a member of the gang. She recalled that later one Khalil not only assaulted her at the guesthouse but also filmed the entire episode.

The girl was allowed to go the next morning, but was told to come to the guesthouse whenever she was called. Otherwise, she was threatened that the film would be circulated all over the city. The victim after finding no other way to get the criminals fixed decided to approach the police. She also provided all the proofs she had against the gang.

“We have arrested the management of the guesthouse as well as the five prostitutes. The films have also been seized,” Superintendent of Police (SP-Cantonment) Mian Saeed Ahmed said.

He added that a case had been registered against the gang under Sections 371 A, B, 294, 4PO and 9C of the Pakistan Penal Code. The official said that all the managers and owner of the guesthouses in University Town have been called for a meeting for Monday where they would have to clarify that they were not involved in such activities. “I have made it clear that they would not be spared if such a thing happened to anyone in future,” said the SP Cantonment.

“The female student who approached us may have committed a mistake but what happened to her is shocking. The culprits need to be punished for ruining the lives of the youth from respectable families,” said Mian Saeed.

There have been reports since long that many guesthouses, hotels and rest houses in the city were not only being used as brothels but those staying there were later blackmailed through hidden cameras installed in the rooms. A number of such videos were later circulated through cellular phones and are available with the dealers of mobile phones sets.

Source: The News