Lahore police on the hunt for Mufti Aziz ur Rehman after video of alleged sexual assault goes viral

• Police say Aziz-ur-Rehman has fled with his sons. 
• Say raids are being carried out to arrest the former JUI leader. 
• A video purportedly showing the JUI leader sexually assaulting a student provoked outrage on social media a couple of days ago. 

LAHORE: Punjab police conducted raids Friday to arrest Mufti Aziz-ur-Rehman, after a video of the former JUI leader went viral in which he can purportedly be seen sexually assaulting a student. 

Police raided a madressah in the city's Township area but Rehman was not there, as per a report on Geo News. Police said the suspect had escaped with his sons. 

Speaking about the raid, police said they received information of the suspect frequently staying at the seminary. 

They added that raids at different places were being carried out to arrest the suspect. 

Police registered a case against Rehman, his sons, and two other unidentified men on Thursday after a video of the cleric, who appears to be sexually assaulting a student, provoked outrage on social media.

Geo News reported that the case was registered on the student's complaint when police arrived at the madressah after the video went viral.

The student said Rehman had "sexually abused" him and then the cleric's sons started "blackmailing and threatening to kill" him.

"If justice is not done, I will commit suicide," the student had warned.

A day earlier, the superintendent of the madressah said the cleric had been fired.

Superintendent Asadullah Farooq said Rehman and his sons had been asked to leave the madressah and the institution was not responsible for any of their acts.

Mufti Rehman says he was 'drugged'

Rehman, meanwhile, responded to the controversy, claiming that the video was two-and-a-half years to three years old, and that the student was being "used against" him.

"I declare under oath that I did not do such an act in my senses. I was drugged and not in my senses," he claimed.