Pak court indicts 8, including grandson of deputy PM Ishaq Dar, in gang rape case

A Pakistani court on Wednesday framed charges against eight suspects, including the grandson of deputy Prime Minister Ishaq Dar, in connection with the gang rape of two foreign women, an official said.

All eight accused, including Muhammad Raza Dar, Ishaq Dar's grandson, pleaded not guilty, the official added.

“Lahore court judge Rafaqat Ali Gondal framed charges against the suspects, who pleaded not guilty. He directed the prosecution to present its witnesses on December 9 so that the formal trial proceedings could begin,” the official said.

Earlier, police in Pakistan's Punjab province had cleared Raza Dar and his four accomplices of charges in the case, instead charging three other employees of Ishaq Dar's grandson of raping the women.

The victims were identified as Stephanie Adnana Mau-Arun of the Netherlands and Astrid Robinson Baracho of Venezuela. They were allegedly kidnapped and raped by Raza Dar and his four friends after arriving in Lahore on a business trip in June. Medical examinations confirmed that the women had been raped. They returned to their respective countries after recording their statements.

According to the police report, the women met Raza Dar in Singapore in 2025 and invited him to invest in their cryptocurrency business. After receiving returns on his initial investment, he invested more than $500,000. However, the women allegedly failed to provide further returns or repay the amount.

In June, Raza Dar invited the women to Pakistan on the pretext of arranging a meeting with another investor. They initially stayed at a hotel in Islamabad and travelled to the hill station of Murree voluntarily. The women were later taken to a house in Lahore's Defence Housing Authority, where they were allegedly held captive and pressured to repay the money. They were forced to transfer $19,500, as per the police report.

Armed men guarded the women and threatened them with a knife, a gun and a broken piece of mirror. They also threatened to kill them and sell their body parts if they failed to meet the demands. The women eventually managed to escape after the vehicle in which their alleged captors were taking them to Lahore airport met with an accident.