A cleric and his accomplice have been arrested for allegedly molesting seminary students and filming the heinous acts for the last three years, Chakwal police reported on Monday.
The incidents occurred in a mosque in Dhoke Phulari village in Chakwal District, located in the jurisdiction of Tamman Police Station. Therein, it emerged that five students of the seminary – four girls and one boy – were the victims.
According to police officials, the incident of this continuous molestation only came to light after the cleric and his accomplice, who would record the criminal activities, had a disagreement. The matter had remained hidden for the last three years.
“Had the differences not developed between the two suspects and had the second suspect not come to us, these incidents would never have been uncovered,” said the district police officer while speaking to a local news outlet.
It was not clarified upon which matter the two had argued, but after the development of the difference, the accomplice came forward to the police with the videographic evidence.
He approached Deputy Superintendent of Police (DSP) Talagang Sikandar Gondal and disclosed that his fellow cleric had sexually assaulted four girls and a boy, all aged between six to 12 years.
The video shown to the DSP only the cleric in the act, as the accomplice was hoping to incriminate his former partner in crime whilst getting off scot-free himself.
On seeing the evidence, the DSP summoned the boy who is now 14 years old, and the latter revealed that he had been sexually assaulted five times by the prayer leader.
Police subsequently arrested both the suspects. During preliminary investigation, the prime suspect confessed to having molested four minor girls aged between six and nine years.
