Man confesses to killing three daughters

Arrested over another murder, suspect reveals he had thrown the girls into a canal

OKARA:

A man confessed to having killed his three minor daughters after police arrested him on charges of shooting dead a villager and injuring several other people.

He said he had thrown the girls into a canal. Rescue 1122 workers launched a search operation for the victims and pulled out one of the bodies from the canal.

Police said Mohammad Aslam from the Baghiana area of Kasur district had confessed to murdering his six-year-old daughter Mashaal Fatima, eight-year-old Malaika Batool and nine-year-old Tahrim. They said the body of Malaika had been retrieved.

The suspect had fled from his home after killing his daughters for unknown reasons by throwing them into a link canal.

The police said they had arrested Aslam after he shot dead a man and injured three other people.

He reportedly revealed during interrogation, that he had also thrown his three daughters into the canal earlier.

Allahabad police sought help from Rescue 1122 after the revelation and the rescuers launched a search for the bodies on Friday morning.

The suspect told the police that he had taken away his three daughters from their home on a motorcycle and thrown them into the Rajwal link canal.

Rescue workers said they were still searching for the two other girls. Allahabad police said detailed investigations into the incident were under way.

Sources in the police said the details of the case were unearthed after the suspect opened fire on a family and took them hostage in Allahabad area.

A man named Sharif was killed and three members of the family were injured in the firing.

Police cordoned off the area and arrested the suspect Aslam from the spot.

Aslam’s wife Nazia had lodged a complaint at Allahabad police station that her three daughters were missing.

Police interrogation of the suspect revealed that he had thrown his daughters into the canal, after which the case was registered accordingly.

Investigators told The Express Tribune that they had also found the girls’ shoes and scarves.

They said the complete facts related to the case would be shared after further investigation.

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The inspector general of Punjab Police sought a report about the case from local officials.

Okara District Police Officer (DPO) Faisal Gulzar said his team would leave no stone unturned in ensuring punishment of the murderer as per law.

The rescue team was also instructed to to speed up the search operation for the two missing girls.

Local people said the suspect was a quack and had opened a clinic in his area.

He had reportedly told other people that he wanted to remarry and the couple frequently quarrelled over the matter.

They said Aslam had told his wife three days earlier that he would take his daughters from their school to Lahore.

He asked his wife to also reach Lahore. When his wife went to Lahore, Aslam was not there.

She later received a phone call about her husband having killed someone in Okara.

When she returned to Allahabad village, she didn’t find her daughters at home and informed the police that the had been missing for two days.

“When policy questioned the suspect, he said he had killed the girls and thrown them into the canal,” an official said.

A sense of mourning gripped the locality over the reports about the death of the three young girls. A number of like cal residents visited the home of the victims.

Published in The Express Tribune, January 8^th, 2022.