GUJRAT: Police claimed to have traced the identity around a dozen suspects belonging to a students’ group allegedly involved in the cold-blooded murder of a student in an attack on a private college’s bus and inflicting bullet injury on another near Rehmania Bridge on old GT road on Oct 24.

As per police sources, at least three of the suspects have been detained, but the arrest of the main suspects is yet to be made.

They say police have also prepared the list of various other student groups involved in the violent incident and a crackdown on such elements is expected to be launched soon.

The sources say the police have so far identified at least 10-12 suspects involved in the bus attack and almost all of them turned out to be the current or former students of the Government Swedish College on old GT road.

The case of murder of a second-year student of a local private college, Laraib Doga, a resident of Jora Karnana village, and injuring another student, Zainul Abedin Butt of Dinga, had been lodged against the unidentified suspects belonging to a students’ group known as BSF (Bismillah students federation) under sections 302, 324, 148 and 149 of Pakistan Penal Code on the report of the father of the deceased youth.

A senior local police official, who is privy to the investigation into the case, says the identified suspects are residents of Gujrat city, Gulliana, Mandi Bahauddin and other areas.

He adds that the prime suspect who opened fire had been identified and raids are being conducted to arrest him.

As per police investigations, on Oct 24 the assailants first met at a restaurant near Swedish College where they made a plan to attack the college bus.

Muhammad Sarfraz, the principal of Swedish College, however, claimed that the suspects were not students of his institution as the case had been lodged against unidentified suspects. District Police Officer Ahmed Nawaz told Dawn that police had developed a close liaison with the managements of local educational institutions and initiated a WhatsApp group comprising their principals for sharing the information about the violent groups and ensuring a prompt action against them.

He confirmed that a list of all such student groups had been prepared to launch a crackdown on them, whereas patrolling around the colleges would also be enhanced to check any violent incident in the city.

The DPO said he had issued special instructions to the police stations in charges and emergency call centres staff to ensure quick response to reports of students’ clashes and aerial firing incidents.

Published in Dawn, October 29th, 2023