ISLAMABAD: The stepfather of a child who was raped and murdered has alleged that he is being treated like a suspect and pressured by the police to withdraw charges against two men arrested in the case.

The victim had disappeared from her home in a slum in F-11 on March 7, and her body was later found from an abandoned hut nearby.

Her stepfather told Dawn on Friday that a police official offered him Rs10 million to withdraw the charges against the suspects in the case or change his statement in their favour. “I was taken to the police station, where the official made the demand,” he said, adding: “I can recognise the official but do not know his name.”

He said: “One of the arrested men told the police that I am the stepfather of the victim and could be involved in her rape and murder.

“The police took me to a hospital on Monday, where samples were taken from me to prove the allegation.”

The man said the victim was his stepdaughter. He married her mother two years ago after her first husband died. “She was my first cousin and was the mother of two daughters when I married her,” he said.

He said the victim was the youngest of two daughters and a student of the first grade at a nearby school.

When contacted, the investigating police officer, Inspector Mohammad Riaz, said the man had not told the police he was the victim’s stepfather.

He said the suspects, who were from the man’s village, had told the police.

The suspects had alleged that the stepfather may have committed the crime.

Mr Riaz said that the police took the victim’s stepfather to a hospital to collect DNA samples, and his blood samples and those of the two arrested suspects have been sent for DNA testing.

Medico-legal officer Irshad Hussain said the victim was nine to 10 years old. An autopsy had found evidence of rape and strangulation, which was the cause of death, he said.

Samples had taken for chemical examinations and DNA testing, he added.

Published in Dawn, March 18th, 2018