Karachi: A man, who was allegedly blackmailing a young woman’s family with a video clip which he had shot while raping her, has been arrested, police said on Monday.
SSP Central Amir Farooqi told reporters that a few days ago, a woman, R, had lodged a complaint with the Surjani Town police station against a man named Zahid, who had raped her younger sister and was now blackmailing her family for Rs1.5 million with a video of the girl shot while the crime was being committed. Two others were also nominated in the FIR.
On Sunday, R was at the Karimabad Market with a relative when Zahid called her up and warned her that if the family did not pay him the money, he would post the video on porn sites on the internet.
Zahid told her to meet him at the Karimabad traffic signal. When she met Zahid, he showed her the video to confirm that he had it in his possession. R tried to snatch the camera and the CD of the video from him and started shouting. Some cops from the Azizabad police station were patrolling in a van nearby when they heard the commotion and arrived at the scene. They arrested Zahid and found a pistol on him. They also took the camera and the CD from him.
During interrogation at the Azizabad police station, Zahid confessed to blackmailing the girl’s family and also disclosed that he extorted money from traders in New Karachi and Surjani Town.
Zahid said after learning that an FIR had been lodged against him at the Surjani Town police station, he had contacted the investigation officer of the case, ASI Tariq.
After Zahid offered the ASI a large sum of money, the police officer assured him that he would not be arrested and he could acquire pre-arrest bail from the court.
“After Zahid’s confession, we summoned ASI Tariq of the Surjani police station’s investigation branch and suspended him,” the SSP said. “A departmental inquiry will be started against the investigation officer.”
