Pakistani deputy prime minister and foreign minister Ishaq Dar is under fire over a case in which his grandson is alleged to be the main suspect in the abduction and gangrape of two foreign women in Lahore.
Investigators said the accused demanded access to cryptocurrency assets during the incident. Police allege that Raza Dar, identified as the main suspect, received USD 100,000 in exchange for the release of one of the women.
Raza Dar is reportedly the grandson of Ishaq Dar, news agency PTI said, citing police sources.
Calls for Ishaq Dar’s resignation have also grown. Pakistani Senator Faisal Vawda accused both the federal government and Pakistan’s Punjab provincial government of shielding the minister’s relative in the high-profile case.
Demand for cryptocurrency in gangrape case
Raza Dar met the two women, one from the Netherlands and the other from Venezuela, in Singapore last year, where they were involved in a cryptocurrency business. He allegedly arranged business visas for them to travel to Pakistan, according to the police investigation.
Police alleged that the suspect invited the two women to a house in Lahore, saying they were attending a relative’s birthday celebration. When they arrived, they found the house empty.
About 15 minutes later, four armed men entered the house carrying firearms and ropes. The attackers tied the women’s hands behind their backs and physically assaulted them, the complainant alleged, according to a report by Dawn.
She further alleged that the captors demanded a huge ransom, initially asking for USD 2 million. They also threatened to kill the women and sell their organs if the demand was not met.
While recording her statement before a judicial magistrate, one of the women, Astrid Gabriela Robinson Bracho, alleged that the attackers restrained both women and repeatedly demanded access to a computer containing cryptocurrency assets, according to a report by ARY News.
The suspects also forced the women to transfer USD 19,000 to their digital wallets, according to the report, which cited police sources.
How ‘Carlitos’ code word came to their rescue
In her statement, the Dutch woman said she was repeatedly forced to send desperate voice messages to her family and friends asking them to send money.
However, she managed to include a pre-arranged distress code word, “CARLITOS”, in her messages. The code immediately alerted her family in Europe, who contacted both international and local law enforcement agencies, Dawn reported.
She alleged that on June 30, an armed man sexually assaulted her in a bedroom. The following day, July 1, the main suspect told the women he was taking them to the airport and drove them away.
Believing they were being taken elsewhere, the women started shouting and asked him to stop. After the vehicle lightly collided with another car, they took advantage of the confusion, jumped out of the moving vehicle and ran into a nearby mechanic’s shop, where they sought help.
The Dutch woman said a local traffic police officer noticed them and immediately called for emergency assistance.
Ishaq Dar’s ‘grandson’ arrested
Pakistani police arrested four men, including Raza Dar, while another suspect is still absconding, PTI reported.
A court in Lahore on Friday sent the accused, including Ishaq Dar’s alleged grandson, to five days of police custody.
