LAHORE: Chief Minister Usman Buzdar on Monday took notice of the rape-cum-murder of a class four student in Batapur and directed the inspector-general of police to use modern technology to trace the culprit.

The cold-blooded murder of the 10-year-old son of a poor labourer at Lakhan Sharif in Batapur came to the limelight when the body was found in the local cornfield. This is the third such case in a month or so in the city, according to some reports.

The police found a deep wound on the head of the deceased which showed the suspect attempted to kill him by using bricks or hard objects to conceal his identity, a police official said.

However, he was later strangulated with a rope, which was also found on the body, he said.

Lahore Capital City Police Officer BA Nasir told Dawn a special team of senior officers and experts had been constituted to trace the criminals.

Sharing details, he said the man called Rescue 15 after he found his son murdered.

The police reached the spot and found marks of injury on the head and signs of strangulation on the neck.

He was the student of class four and his father had sent him to herd goats back from the fields, the CCPO said, adding that when the boy did not return after some time his father searched and found him in cornfield some 200 metres away from his home.

The CCPO said experts from the police and Punjab Forensic Science Agency were working on the case.

The Cantonment superintendent of police was also dispatched to the crime scene and later to the father for counseling.

Published in Dawn, July 16th, 2019