KARACHI: A six-year-old girl, who went missing on Monday after stepping out of her home in North Karachi, was found dead in the Manghopir area in the early hours of Tuesday, police said.

A post-mortem examination of her body showed that the little girl was raped before being murdered.

The body was spotted in bushes in Manghopir hours after her parents had approached the police to trace her. The parents, residents of Nooruddin Goth in North Karachi, had told the police that they had failed to find her. She had gone out in the afternoon but never returned, they complained.

Later in the early hours of Tuesday, the police found the body in Manghopir. “The body was shifted to the Abbasi Shaheed Hospital for a post-mortem examination. We then called the complainants from North Karachi to the hospital where they identified her,” said Manghopir SHO Inspector Haji Sanaullah.

Initial findings of the post-mortem examination at the hospital indicated that the girl was “murdered after sexual assault”, said the SHO.

Pakistani American held for murder

A suspect was arrested during a raid on a guest house near Karachi airport for allegedly killing a teenager in Azizabad on Sunday, police said.

They added that 15-year-old Noor Agha was gunned down after he and his co-worker, Naimat, had an altercation with the suspect, Ayaz alias Jeewa, on Sunday morning over payment of Rs25 for washing the stairs of his flat.

During the argument, Ayaz took out his pistol and shot the teenager, the police said, adding that he rushed back into his flat and locked the door. He then managed to escape leaving the victim on the doorstep of his flat. The wounded teenager was later shifted to the Abbasi Shaheed Hospital where doctors pronounced him dead on arrival.

The victim’s brother, Umer, then lodged an FIR against the suspect at the Azizabad police station. According to the police investigators, the suspect also holds dual nationality as he had acquired American citizenship.

On Tuesday morning, the police with the help of intelligence reports raided the guest house near the airport where they arrested the suspect before he could flee the country.

SP Gulberg Bashir Brohi said: “After murdering the boy, he was planning to leave the country but we moved fast and traced him [in time] in the area close to airport.

“The suspect has a history of suspicious activities,” said SP Gulberg Bashir Brohi. “He was known for his violent reactions in the area and carrying a pistol while moving in the streets.”

Published in Dawn, May 17th, 2017