Charges framed against 8, including grandson of Pakistan Deputy PM Ishaq Dar

A Lahore court has framed charges against a total of 8 people, including Raza Dar, the grandson of Pakistan's Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar, in a gangrape case. According to a report by the Hindustan Times, Lahore's Additional District and Sessions Judge Rafaqat Ali Gondal framed charges against all these accused on Tuesday. All the accused have pleaded not guilty in court. The judge has now set December 9 as the date for the hearing of the case, in which the prosecution has been directed to present their witnesses. Currently, all the accused are in judicial custody.

This entire matter dates back to June, when two foreign women, Stephanie Adana Mau-Arun from the Netherlands and Astrid Robinson Baracho from Venezuela, came to Pakistan for a business trip. According to the police report, these women met Raza Dar in Singapore in 2025 and encouraged him to invest in the cryptocurrency business. Raza Dar had invested more than 5,00,000 US dollars in this business. However, when the women did not return the profit or the principal amount later, Raza Dar called them to Pakistan. The women stayed at a hotel in Islamabad and also visited the Murree hill station.

According to the police, the women were later taken to a house in the Defence Housing Authority area of Lahore, where they were held hostage and forced to transfer 19,500 US dollars. The women alleged that they were threatened with death by being shown knives, guns, and pieces of glass. Eventually, when they were being taken to Lahore airport, the women managed to escape after the vehicle met with an accident on the way. Medical examinations also confirmed that the women had been raped.

A controversy also emerged in this case as the Punjab Police had previously given a clean chit to Raza Dar and four of his associates in this case. The police had charged only three of Raza Dar's employees with rape. However, the court has now framed charges against all 8 accused. Both the victimized women have returned to their countries after recording their statements.

Ishaq Dar is a senior Pakistani politician and currently serves as the Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister of Pakistan. He has also served as the Finance Minister of Pakistan in the past and is considered an influential leader of the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) party.