As there is no headway to arrest Abid Ali, prime accused of Lahore-Sialkot Motorway gang rape incident, now the Punjab Police have released the co-accused Waqar ul Hassan after detaining him in police custody for 17 days after he was found innocent, reported 24NewsHD TV channel Thursday.

The TV channel reported, Punjab Chief Minister had named Waqar as an accomplice of the main accused Abid in a press conference and also set a reward of Rs2.5 million for Waqar's arrest.

Police said Waqar found innocent during the investigations and even his DNA was not matched with the samples of the woman victim taken from the site, the TV channel reported quoting its sources.

On 13 September, alleged co-accused Waqarul Hassan surrendered before the Police and next day he named another person Shafqat who he believed was involved with the main accused Abdil Ali Malhi in various criminal activities.

Police said Waqar was not found involved in the incident in the preliminary investigation, however, the final decision will be made after the DNA report. 

Co-accused Waqar, who is a resident of Sheikhupura, himself surrendered to CIA Model Town office and denied that he had committed the crime. 

Waqar told police he had nothing to do with Motorway gang-rape incident as he has himself appeared before the police. 

He said: "I have two mobile SIMs registered under my name. The phone number with which the police traced him was being used by one of his relatives." After his refusal to admit the crime, the police have decided to carry out Waqar's DNA test and initiated the process in this regard and moved him to an unknown place. 

Earlier, talking to a team of 24NewsHD TV that visited Abid Ali’s village to ascertain facts about him, people of his native village, Chak-260 HR in Fort Abbas Tehsil, said that victims in most cases had reconciled with Abid Ali due to the fear factor. Abid, son of Akbar Ali, was named in a case (13/264) registered in Fort Abbas Police Station.

Besides Abdi Ali, his four accomplices were also named in this case. In this case, Abid Ali and his accomplices had allegedly raped a woman and her daughter in front of their family members.