Man arrested over little daughter’s slaughter

The accused suspected the girl was born out of wedlock

CHARSADDA:

Reality is stranger than fiction as police on Friday successfully solved the mystery of the brutal murder of four-year-old Maryam and the murderer turned out to be her biological father.

Addressing a press conference District Police Officer (DPO) Charsadda, Sohail Khalid said the accused Obaidullah killed his innocent daughter because he suspected that she was born out of wedlock.

“The accused suspected that the girl was a love child and he made his wife pregnant before getting married. When she was born soon after the wedding, everyone started pointing fingers, upsetting the man,” said the DPO.

He added that 36 people were arrested and interrogated and the profiling of 40 houses was also done after which the real culprit was apprehended.

“A knife used in the crime and a pistol have been recovered from the possession of the accused. He wanted to commit suicide when police was sent to arrest him but the pistol misfired,” he noted.

The accused was produced before the court soon after his arrest and the court handed him over to police on three day remand.

It may be mentioned here that Maryum was found brutally slaughtered in Shabara village in the jurisdiction area of Parang police station on Tuesday.

Her father lodged an FIR with police, stating that his daughter went out of the house for playing and didn’t return. When they started searching for her, her body was found on the bank of a nullah in a deserted place.

He told police that he had no enmity with any one.

The murder sparked widespread panic in the area as last year a girl was killed in similar fashion.

Police sent the body for autopsy where doctors confirmed that she had not been raped.

 

Published in The Express Tribune, July 16^th, 2022.