Abbottabad police arrest suspects over child’s murderer

Officer claims DNA and forensic tests helped trace the suspect

ABBOTTABAD: Three days after the body of a seven-year-old girl was found from a village in Abbottabad, police claimed to have apprehended a man who is suspected to have sexually assaulted the child and then killed her.

In a news conference held on Thursday, Abbottabad District Police Officer (DPO) Abbas Majeed Marawt said that a case for the murder of seven-year-old Kashaf had been registered on Sunday, August 18, after the girl’s body had been found in an open area within the remits of the Nawanshehr police station.

Later, he said, Section 376 — the punishment of rape — was added after an autopsy confirmed sexual abuse. A few sections of the Child Protection Act were also inserted.

To track the suspect, DPO Marwat said that they formed joint teams together with officials from the Crime Investigation Department (CID), the Crime Investigation Agency (CIA) and other law enforcing agencies. Subsequently, search operations were launched while blood samples were taken to conduct for forensic tests.

Using other technological tools and traditional investigation by deploying officers in plain clothes, Marwat said that they managed to trace a man identified as Siraj alias ‘Shani’, a resident of the Chattri Kala Pani Village.

The police officer claimed that the forensic and DNA tests confirmed that Siraj was the alleged assailant. Thereafter, he was booked and arrested.

Marwat claimed that in initial questioning, Siraj had allegedly admitted that he was closely related to the deceased child. He added that Kashaf had gone to a nearby house and that the girl’s mother had then asked Siraj to bring the child back. The suspect, Marwat claimed, said that while returning, he saw an open space where he allegedly raped and later killed the child before fleeing.

The suspect, Marwat said, will be presented before a court and further legal proceedings will be initiated against him.

Published in The Express Tribune, August 23^rd, 2019.