Act of jealousy: Teenager arrested for murder of younger brother in Karachi

Accused admits to killing seven-year-old brother but denies reports of abusing him

KARACHI: In less than 48 hours, police investigators probing the murder of a seven-year-old boy in Karachi's District East claimed to have made a major breakthrough on Saturday by arresting the victim's elder brother, who was allegedly responsible for the incident.

A seven-year-old boy was found dead from the bushes near the National Coaching Centre in Gulshan-e-Iqbal within the limits of the New Town police station late Thursday night after he went missing the same afternoon when he left home to play with the neighbours' children.

The family, however, found his body late at night and shifted him to a hospital where doctors confirmed that he was strangled to death. The victim's father, who used to work as watchman at a boxing club in the area, had approached the police to register a case against an unidentified person.



Police officials said that they have started working on the case since the family had approached them to register a case. They said the victim's elder brother, who is believed to be 16 years old, was behind the murder.

"We suspected him since the family approached the police," said New Town SHO Hikmatullah, adding that the teenager helped 'find' the body, even though it was in an isolated location.

The officer said that as circumstantial evidence suggested the teenager's involvement in the murder and on the basis of suspicion, the police questioned him and during the questioning, the accused admitted to the crime.

Initially, there were reports that the deceased was sexually assaulted before being murdered. However, the doctors and the police denied such reports. "The doctors had doubted it, but apparently the victim was not subjected to rape," said SHO Hikmatullah. "But we are still waiting for the chemical examination report to verify this."

While admitting to murdering his younger brother, the accused also denied abusing him. "I killed my brother because of jealousy but how could I have raped him? He was my little brother," said the accused during initial questioning.



"I wouldn't do anything such as rape, but I killed my brother by strangling him to death with the help of a wire as my father always loved him and hated me," the teenager told the police. He said that he killed his brother out of jealousy and to take revenge on his father, who frequently used to beat and taunt him.

The deceased was the second of five siblings. Police said that the victim's father usually beat his elder son as he was not interested in education and used drugs. The father loved his younger son, who besides being a good student, was also active in sports activities, police said.



The FIR has already been registered under sections of murder and kidnapping, while a section of rape will be added if the chemical examination report confirms the rape. Further investigation is under way.