A police investigation has found that Mufti Azizur Rehman lured his student, S*, into committing sexual acts with him for three years with promises of help in passing his exams, it emerged on Monday.

The findings were included in the challan (investigation report), submitted by the police to the court on Friday after completing their investigation. According to the challan, a copy of which is available with Dawn.com, S* told the police that he got admission to the Jamia Manzoorul Islamia in 2013, where he continued to receive his education since.

He said that during the exams, Mufti Rehman had accused him and another student of cheating by getting someone else to sit for the exams. "Over this, I was also banned from giving exams at the Wafaqul Madaris for three years," the investigation report quoted him as saying.

According to the challan, Mufti Rehman then persuaded S* to engage in "immoral activities" with him, luring him with hopes of help in passing his exams.

"But despite a passage of three years, during which I was assaulted every Friday, he did nothing and started to blackmail me more," S* is quoted as saying in the challan.

He said no action was taken against Mufti Rehman when he tried to raise the issue with the administration of Jamia Manzoor ul Islamia, who had refused to believe him. Following this, according to the police investigation, the student continued to meet Mufti Rehman in his office and recorded audio and video evidence of their interactions.

Mufti Rehman was fired from his job after the evidence was shown to the administration after which his sons allegedly threatened the student with "dire consequences" to silence him, the police said.

According to the police investigation, the sofas and curtains in the recorded video were found to be the same as the ones in Mufti Rehman's office, which made it "clear that Mufti Azizur Rehman has engaged in and perpetrated immoral actions against S* (the student)".

The challan added that the other suspects in the case — Mufti Rehman's three sons — were also "found to be responsible" for warning S* of dire consequences and issuing life threats.

"The trial should be conducted after summoning the suspects and witnesses," the challan requested.

It identified nine individuals who would appear as witnesses in the trial.

Judicial Magistrate Rana Rashid heard the case on Monday in a local court in Lahore and ordered the police to produce Mufti Rehman before the court on October 4 for framing of charges. The court had previously ordered the police to submit the case's record on September 20 (today).

Case history

North Cantonment police had on June 17 registered a first information report on charges of sexual assault and criminal intimidation against Mufti Rehman on the complaint of his student.

The cleric had gone into hiding after registration of the case but police managed to arrest him from Mianwali.

The student had shared a video clip of the sexual assault with police and the seminary administration as proof. In his complaint, the student had alleged that Mufti Rehman got him and another student expelled on the charge of cheating in examinations of Wafaqul Madaris for three years.

In June, Deputy Inspector General of Police (DIG) Investigations Shariq Jamal Khan had told Dawn.com that the cleric had confessed he had made the student a target of his lust with the lure of passing him in his exams. The cleric had added that he was scared once the video went viral on social media and his sons had attempted to threaten the student and stop him from mentioning the incident to anyone, the DIG said.

However, when police had later produced him before a judicial magistrate in Lahore to record his statement, he retracted the earlier statement that was attributed to him by the police.