Half eaten body of 8-year-old found from field

Medical experts confirm the mutilated body is Zeeshan’s and suspect the child was raped

MULTAN:

An eight-year-old boy’s body was recovered from the fields by residents in Muhammad Pur on Monday evening. Area residents told police that the boy had been mutilated and his body had been eaten and torn by animals.

According to police officials, Muhammad Pur resident Rais Ahmed’s eight-year-old son Zeeshan was kidnapped on August 17.

“He went outside to play and didn’t return until late in the evening. We had the entire village help us search for him but he wasn’t here so we told the police,” Ahmed told reporters.

Residents in Muhammad Pur told police officials that five days ago the boy’s uncles Ahmed Kamran and another relative Zafar went out to search for him but were killed in a car crash. “They said that they had a tip as to where they might find him and went looking but they were killed,” said a neighbour Hafeez Musa.

On Monday, several villagers found the boy’s body in the fields while they were cutting crops. “The body was nearly unrecognisable and had been eaten by dogs,” Musa said, adding “the child’s mother said that she was sure it was him because of some scraps of clothing that we found.” Ahmed and his family called the police and they sealed off the crime scene and took samples. The body was sent to the DHQ hospital for an autopsy.

Police officials said that they had taken the body into custody and sent it for testing. “We are still waiting on the complete autopsy results but lab assistants have told us that they have confirmed the boy’s identity and suspect that the child was molested given the signs of torture still visible on the body,” inspector Rasool said. A DHQ hospital official said that the results were still being conducted but so far they could confirm that the child had been strangled and probably sodomised.

“The evidence suggests that he was severely tortured. The rest of the body has been eaten by dogs and jackals so it is hard to confirm anything,” Dr Muhammad Hanif said.

Police officials have begun questioning Ahmed’s family and neighbours in this regard and said that they would also reopen the investigation regarding the death of Zeeshan’s uncles in an accident.

“It is possible the accident could be linked with the murder,” Rasool said, adding that Ahmed said he did not know of anyone who could have done this.

“I am a poor labourer and my son was only eight. We have no enemies. I don’t know why or how any of this happened but I want justice for my son,” Ahmed told reporters.



Published in The Express Tribune, September 14^th, 2011.