KARACHI, Oct 31: The initial findings of a post-mortem examination on the 12-year-old boy whose body was found hanging in a Shah Faisal Colony mosque on Tuesday suggested that he was killed, causing police to register a murder case and question close relatives of the deceased.

Officials and sources close to the investigation process said the medico-legal section of the Jinnah Postgraduate Medical Centre had reserved Mohammad Anas’s final autopsy report and sent samples to the chemical laboratory of the Services Hospital for a further examination to determine the way he was murdered.

“But obviously the area police have been informed about the initial findings that Anas was murdered and there was no reason to consider the case a suicide,” said an official wishing not to be named.

“A final report would be submitted later but for legal proceedings it is necessary to inform police about the initial findings so that they can register a case and initiate investigations before further delays.”

Mystery has gripped the whole episode of the young boy’s murder. Hailing from Muzaffargarh in Punjab, for the last four years Anas had been living with his maternal grandfather Qari Abdul Rahman, who teaches at the Madressah attached to Masjid-i-Aqsa in Bareli Colony of Shah Faisal No 5. The boy was found hanged in the mosque on Tuesday.

Apparently the suspects killed the boy and then hanged him in the mosque to make the episode look like a suicide case but the area police were not ready to believe that the death was the result of a suicide, sources said.

They added the area police had started questioning close relatives of the deceased.

“We have registered an FIR (294/2007) under Section 302 of the Pakistan Penal Code and expect to achieve the target within the next few days,” said Shah Faisal Colony police station SHO Nasir Khan.

He replied in the affirmative when asked about questioning of close relatives of the murdered boy but refused to divulge the details and names, saying that the police were waiting for the final chemical report of the victim.

“We have not made any formal arrest yet but we are obviously questioning a few people, including his relatives,” added Mr Khan.

The sources, however, maintained that the police did not allow some young cousins of the victim to accompany the body to Muzaffargarh on late Tuesday on grounds that they wanted to talk to the boys.

“The elders of the family took away Anas’s body for burial but as a matter of fact a few youngsters, including cousins of the deceased who resided on the same premises of Masjid-i-Aqsa, were prevented from travelling away and were called to the police station for questioning,” said a police source.

The officials said the final report could take some two weeks to compile, which would pinpoint the cause of the death and any kind of exploitation of the deceased before his murder.

“As a matter of course, it takes some 15 days to finalize such examinations,” said the police surgeon, Dr Bashir Sheikh.

“But it doesn’t stop police from investigations. Rather it will further help the investigators to assess their proceedings and remove all those suspicions, which are taken into account.”

However, the area police are very confident, saying that the arrest of the main culprit is just a matter of time.

“Both I and my investigation officer are very hopeful that the case will not take more than a week to resolve,” said the Shah Faisal Colony police station SHO. “We are expecting positive news later this week.”