Confession in, DNA test awaited in murder case of 7-year-old

Published January 8, 2015
A minor was found murdered in a mosque after being kidnapped and molested in Lahore's Green Town area on Jan 2. AFP/File
A minor was found murdered in a mosque after being kidnapped and molested in Lahore's Green Town area on Jan 2. AFP/File

LAHORE: The results from a DNA test of visceral samples will play a decisive role in the probe of the assault and murder of a seven-year old boy in Lahore earlier this week, police authorities revealed.

The minor was found murdered in a mosque after being kidnapped and molested in Lahore's Green Town area on Jan 2, after which a video confession of the mosque's muezzin (prayer caller) went viral on social media.

According to the police, the boy was hanged from a fan on the second floor of the Baitul Karam mosque in Lahore's Bihari Colony, Green Town. His body was shifted to a morgue for an autopsy. A doctor at the morgue said that after examining the body for postmortem it was revealed that the boy was sexually assaulted before murder.

Read: Boy assaulted, murdered

Relatives of the victim expressed anger and staged protests in the aftermath of the gruesome incident, following which seven suspects were detained by police.

Also read: Slain child’s family seeks ‘an eye for an eye’

A prayer caller of the Baitul Mukaram mosque is the prime accused in the case, while six others were granted bail by a local court.

In the video, the accused admits to the grisly crime and says, "The devil lead me to the gruesome act".

He says his confession is an example "that the truth can be spoken regardless of whatever the situation is".

"I wasn't tortured by police and am giving my confession out of the goodness of my heart," the suspect adds in the video, in which he is flanked by a police officer.

Although police officials are yet to officially confirm the confession, sources in the Lahore police say that before proceeding with the case, the DNA results are awaited to confirm that the prayer caller was the sole culprit.

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