HYDERABAD: A 12-year-old boy was murdered after being sexually assaulted in Al-Aziz Colony within the jurisdiction of the Hali Road police station, the bereaved family and neighbours said on Thursday.

The VI class student went missing at around 3pm on Wednesday and his father along with other relatives were in search of him when one of their close relatives gave a clue to the suspect claiming that he had seen the boy with a neighbour before his disappearance. The suspect was also accompanying the family in the search for the boy. However, he kept claiming that he had dropped the boy near Sabzi Mandi and left for his workplace.

Police detained the neighbour for interrogation, during which he confessed to have subjected the body to criminal assault and then slit his throat with a machete. On the neighbour’s information, the boy’s body was recovered from his warehouse located within the limits of the Tando Yousuf police station.

The boy’s father has lodged the FIR against the suspect.

Published in Dawn, January 17th, 2020