KARACHI: Two suspects were on Wednesday remanded in police custody for their alleged involvement in kidnapping and murder of a six-year-old girl in Manghopir.

Police claimed to have arrested the two suspects on April 17 in connection with the minor girl’s alleged kidnapping and murder which had sparked violent protests in an Orangi Town area on Tuesday.

The investigating officer, Inspector Mohammad Yousuf Khan, produced the suspects before two judicial magistrates of West district — since the kidnapping case was lodged with the Orangi Town police station and the body of the girl was found within the remit of the Manghopir police station — seeking their physical custody for interrogation.

He informed the magistrates that complainant Abdul Qadir had nominated three men in an FIR lodged at the Orangi Town police station on April 16 alleging that they along with some unknown men had kidnapped his six-year-old granddaughter from their house in Baloch Goth on April 15.

PTI leaders, 150 protesters booked under antiterror law

The complainant stated that the suspects had abducted and murdered the girl because of enmity between his family and them over some marriage proposal.

The kidnapping case under Sections 364-A (kidnapping or abducting a person under the age of 10) and 34 (common intention) of the Pakistan Penal Code was registered at the Orangi Town police station.

The complaint said that during a search by family members the tortured body of the girl was found in the Manghopir area the following day.

A separate case of murder was registered against the same set of suspects at the Manghopir police station.

The IO requested the courts to grant their police remand till April 30 to complete legal formalities.

He said their medical and DNA tests were required to be conducted in order to determine the allegations of sexual assault on the minor.

The IO told the magistrates that the suspects were also required to be further interrogated to track down the third suspect, named in the FIR, who was still at large.

The two magistrates remanded the suspects in police custody till April 25 asking the IO to produce them on the next date along with a progress report.

Terror case against PTI leadership, protesters

Police on Wednesday booked local leadership of the Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf and others in a terrorism case for staging a violent protest against the rape and murder of the girl in which one protester was killed and many others, including a few policemen, were injured.

However, the FIR was sealed on the directives of the provincial government.

DIG West Amir Farooqi confirmed to Dawn that a case had been registered against the protesters.

However, Orangi Town SP Abid Ali Baloch explained that the Pirabad police registered a case against local leadership of the PTI under the Anti-Terrorism Act of 1997.

He added that of the 150 protesters booked in the FIR, six protesters had already been arrested.

About the killing of a man in Tuesday’s protest, the SP said that the victim was identified as Mohammad Ilyas and he was associated with the Jamiat Ulema-i-Islam-Fazl and not the PTI as claimed by their leaders.

He said that the police were waiting for the deceased’s relatives to come and lodge an FIR pertaining to his murder.

The victim was not even part of the protest. He was said to be a shopkeeper who closed his business due to violence and was on his way when a bullet hit him in the head, the officer said.

The SP said that an inquiry team led by DIG Administration Asim Qaimkhani to probe into the violent episode visited the Orangi area on Wednesday and met with police officers and certain PTI leaders and sought their version about the circumstances leading to the violence.

Also on Wednesday, Sindh Home Minister Sohail Anwar Siyal visited the area.

Talking to media, he accused the PTI leadership of “playing politics with the [body] of the dead girl”.

However, PTI leader Haleem Adil Shaikh said that no party worker was involved in Tuesday’s violence, which he said was a result of mishandling by police.

He also claimed that those nominated and arrested in the kidnapping and murder case were innocent and they were framed because of some personal enmity.

Published in Dawn, April 19th, 2018