SAHIWAL: The decapitated body of a minor was found in Pakpattan canal near Kasowal on Wednesday noon.

The 10-year-old boy had been missing since Saturday and a kidnapping case was registered against unidentified persons at Kalyana police station. Parents of the minor feared that he had been molested and brutally tortured before being murdered.

This is the third case of child kidnap and murder in Kalyana police precincts in the last one month.

Four days ago, 10-year-old Muhammad Sher Khan, a Class IV student of Government Elementary School Kalyana, had gone missing from Pakka Sidhar village. His parents and village elders searched for him, but to no avail.

Later, Kalyana police registered a kidnapping case against unidentified persons on the father’s complaint. Police also investigated and searched for the boy, but remained clueless.

On Wednesday, Khan’s decapitated body was found in Pakpattan canal. Some passerby reported to police that a child’s body was floating in the canal. Later, it was identified as Sher Khan’s.

Police sources say the child’s head and one of the legs were missing. His father feared his son was sexually assaulted, tortured and burnt before killing. Police further said that sexual abuse would be confirmed after a postmortem examination.

WHEAT RECOVERED: Around 5,000 wheat bags of 100 kilogrammes each were recovered from a farmhouse in village Deedar Singh, Pakpattan tehsil.

On a tip-off from the special branch, the district food department raided the village. Officials found that landlord Javed had illegally stored a large quantity of wheat that he had got from farmers being a middleman.

District Officer Abdul Gaffar Khan from the special branch told Dawn that the suspect was arrested by Saddar police.

Local food inspectors Naeem and Shahid had taken the 5,000 wheat bags into their custody, while Saddar police was investigating the matter.

ROBBERY: Eleven unidentified robbers looted Rs1.5 million, gold jewellery and two motorcycles from a house in village 187/9-L late on Tuesday night.

The 11 suspects barged into the house of landlord Muhammad Naveed late at night. They threatened the family and locked them in a room. After 40 minutes, the suspects fled on two motorcycles.

Police registered a case under sections 395 and 397 of the PPC.

Published in Dawn, May 16th, 2019