KARACHI: A man accused of stealing over 50 mobile phones from women after luring them to a farmhouse in Gadap under the pretext of job interviews was beaten by the aggrieved during a court appearance on Tuesday.
The suspect was arrested by the police on Monday for his alleged involvement in stealing the mobile phones of 59 women, who were brought to the farmhouse in October under the pretext of a job interview.
He was presented before the Malir judicial magistrate on Tuesday. During the hearing, the investigating officer (IO) informed the magistrate that the suspect was arrested yesterday and mobile phones had been recovered from his possession.
The officer said that more mobile phones needed to be recovered, while the suspect’s accomplices were also at large. He requested physical remand of the suspect, which the court approved, granting police one-day physical remand.
Meanwhile, a number of the affected women were present at the premises. In a video seen by Dawn, the women could be seen asking the police to show the suspect’s face, gathering around him and then proceeding to beat him with slippers and slap him.
As the suspect tried to move away, the group of women could be seen chasing him until the police took the suspect inside a room.
A day earlier, Malir Senior Superintendent of Police Dr Abdul Khaliq Pirzada told Dawn that the police had recovered 40 mobile phones from the suspect’s possession.
Acting on a tip-off, police arrested the prime suspect while he was on his way to sell 40 mobile phones in an attempt to “destroy” evidence.
Pirzada said police had obtained clues suggesting that the remaining 19 mobile phones were in the possession of another absconding suspect. Concerted efforts were underway to arrest him, he added.
The Malir SSP said the main suspect, allegedly with a female suspect’s help, had created a WhatsApp group and placed job advertisements to lure the women. He subsequently hired a bus and took them to the farmhouse.
A first information report, invoking Section 379 (punishment for theft), Section 420 (cheating and dishonestly inducing delivery of property), and Section 34 (acts done by several persons in furtherance of common intention) of the Pakistan Penal Code was registered with the Gadap City police station on the complaint of one of the victims.