KARACHI: The body of a nine-year-old boy was found in Sector-4 of Saeedabad on Thursday.

Karachi West SSP Younis Chandio told Dawn that the victim was studying in a local seminary. He went to the seminary on Tuesday but did not return home. The family, therefore, lodged a report at the Saeedabad police station on Thursday morning, which prompted police to start search for the boy and later discovered his body.

“The body is 25 to 30 hours old, which means the boy might have been killed on Wednesday,” he said.

The body was shifted to the Civil Hospital for a post-mortem. Additional police surgeon Dr Qarar Ahmed Abbasi said the boy was subjected to sexual assault before being strangulated to death. There were torture marks on different parts of his body.

The SSP said this was the second such incident in the same area as three months ago a boy was also killed after being subjected to sexual assault.

The senior officer said he had constituted an investigation team under him which included Baldia and Orangi superintendents of police, and other officers to catch the killer(s).

The police have found some “clues” about suspects and have launched manhunt for their arrests, said the SSP.

Published in Dawn, September 22nd, 2017