CHAKWAL: The body of a five-year-old girl, who went missing on Sept 21, was recovered from a well, police said on Saturday.

“The girl went to a shop along with her mother on September 21. After buying some candies, she went to her father who worked in the house of an influential person near the shop,” Saddar police investigation officer (IO) Syed Ali Abbas told Dawn. In the evening when her father returned home, it transpired that the girl had not reached the house where he worked.

The family then started searching for the girl.

“I found the shoes of my daughter near an abandoned well which was full of water,” the father told Dawn. He said when he called Rescue 1122, its personnel reached the spot and recovered the body from the well.

The body was sent to the district headquarters hospital where an autopsy was conducted. “The autopsy report confirmed that the girl was raped and then strangled to death,” said Dr Asmara, who conducted the autopsy.

The father said the killer of his daughter should be brought to book.

Police have started efforts to trace the culprit after registering a case. “The case is a challenge for us but we would solve it soon,” the IO added.

Published in Dawn, September 25th, 2016