KARACHI: Police on Friday claimed to have arrested an employee of Pakistan Steel Mills for the murder of an eight-year-old boy who was found dead in Gulshan-i-Hadeed on Aug 16.

The boy had left his home in Gulshan-i-Hadeed Phase-II to attend a rally in connection with the 70th Independence Day of Pakistan but did not return home. On Aug 16, his body was found in a garbage dump behind a marriage hall situated in a hilly area of Gulshan-i-Hadeed Phase-I. The child had been stabbed to death.

“The Steel Town police have arrested one suspect,” said Malir SSP Rao Anwar, adding that the knife used in the murder along with bloodstained clothes and slippers of the suspect were also seized.

The officer said that the male suspect was living in a bachelors’ hostel in Steel Town. He worked in the PAD department of the Steel Mills.

SSP Anwar told Dawn that the victim was familiar with the suspect as he used to visit the family. The officer said the suspect had taken away the child with the intention of subjecting him to criminal assault. However, when the child resisted, the suspect throttled him and then stabbed him to death.

The officer said the suspect visited the spot on two consecutive days where he had thrown the body and finally he informed the family about the body lying in the garbage dump. “He also overreacted at the funeral of the child, as he was seen weeping,” said SSP Anwar. 

The suspect was taken into custody when the Steel Town SHO saw a bloodstain on his slippers, the officer said, adding that the suspect later, during interrogation, also ‘confessed’ to having killed the child.

Published in Dawn, August 19th, 2017