NOWSHERA: The Nowshera police have failed to trace the culprit behind the rape and murder of an eight-year-old girl despite the fact that different investigative teams have been formed to probe the incident occurred four days ago.

It is a test case for the district police to prove their performance by ensuring early arrest of the killer of the minor girl.

“We are utilising all available resources and formed multiple teams to investigate the matter and reach the culprit. DNA sampling of suspected persons has been collected and sent to laboratory for test. It’s hoped that the real culprit will be arrested soon,” DPO Mansoor Aman told Dawn on Monday.

He said over 20 suspected persons had been interrogated, adding 200 DNA samples had been taken so far to reach the real culprit.

It may be mentioned here that the girl was severely tortured after sexual assault, leading to her death, which received wide condemnation, with the civil society, lawyers, political parties, and journalist demanding stern action against the accused.

Mr Aman made it clear that generating profile and making investigation on scientific lines was time consuming.

The DPO said he had also formed a monitoring committee to oversee the investigation process. The committee would identify the weakness if any during the investigation process and would inform him, he added.

Meanwhile, talking to mediapersons on Monday, PML-N provincial president Eng Amir Muqam demanded immediate arrest of the culprit.

Mr Muqam also condoled with the aggrieved family at Nowshera Kalan, and said the government should provide free legal aid to the family. He said the government should take measures to stop occurrence of such incidents in future.

He said the government should provide latest technology to police to investigate such cases speedily. He said perpetrators of such heinous crimes should be hanged publicly.

Published in Dawn, January 1st, 2019