KARACHI: Two young boys who had been missing were found dead in a car in the Manghopir area on Wednesday. Doctors said they believed the children were murdered.

They added that Mohammed Zubair, 3, and Ubaid Saeed, 4, were found dead inside an old parked car near the terminus of F-11 minibus adjacent to Naya Nazimabad.

Area SHO Gul Mohammed said the boys had gone missing from their homes on May 10. Their missing report was lodged on May 11. Today (Wednesday) people passing by complained to the police that foul smell was emanating from the car.

The police rushed to the spot, broke open the windows and recovered three-day old bodies.

The SHO said that due to the lockdown, the mechanic’s shop was closed where the car was brought for some repair work. The car’s door opened from outside only. He said that while playing the children might have entered the car and could not open its gate from inside and died of suffocation. They belonged to poor families and were neighbours and relatives.

The bodies were taken to the Abbasi Shaheed Hospital to ascertain the exact cause of deaths where doctors rejected claims of the police. Additional police surgeon Dr Mohammad Saleem said both minor boys were murdered. There were head injuries caused by a hard and blunt weapon. When confronted with the findings of the doctors, the area SHO said that they had not received such a report. He said the families told the police they had no enmity with anyone.

Published in Dawn, May 14th, 2020