ISLAMABAD: The police have arrested a man for allegedly killing his nephew and telling the police the child was killed in a drive-by shooting, police said on Tuesday.

On May 11, the man told police he was on his way to I-9/4 with his 11-year-old nephew Hammad Ali when they were fired at by people on a motorcycle on the service road. He said his nephew was injured in the shooting and that he took him to a hospital where he died.

However, the police investigation found that the man’s statement contradicted the facts.

The police registered a murder case against unidentified individuals in response to a complaint lodged by the child’s father Mohammad Waqas.

The police obtained CCTV footage from Safe City cameras as well as the call records of the victim’s uncle. The man’s mobile phone was discovered to be turned off and he had disappeared, but police were eventually able to locate and arrest him.

The man told police during interrogation that he had been cleaning his pistol at his home in Rawalpindi when it accidentally went off.

The bullets hit Ali who was sleeping on the floor at the time.

The man told police he took the child to the Holy Family Hospital, where he died, and that he told police a fake story to hide the incident.

The police have recovered the pistol and a blanket that had been pulled over the boy when he was shot. The police said bullet holes were found in the blanket.

After the man confessed, Islamabad police informed the Rawalpindi police of the incident as it had taken place in their limits.

The investigation was transferred to the New Town police station where a case was also registered, and the case with the Industrial Area police has been quashed.

Published in Dawn, May 20th, 2020