KARACHI, Sept 18: A 10-year-old girl was allegedly criminally assaulted by three men in a shanty town of Gadap on Sunday evening. Police claimed to have arrested one of them. The suspects broke into a shack in a settlement of Samoo Goth and subjected the girl to gang-rape. Her shrieks attracted the attention of neighbours who caught hold of one of the suspects, Anwar Hussain, and informed police. He appeared to be an absconder in a case pertaining to the murder of the rape victim’s father, who had been killed in 1998. Anwar’s two suspected accomplices in the murder case had been arrested later, the investigating officer of the rape case, ASI Raja Shaukat, said.

The girl was sent to a hospital where her medical examination was performed. The examination report is expected by Monday, according to the hospital sources.

The victim has three elder sisters and two younger brothers. Her mother and sisters had gone to do domestic work in different households when the incident took place.

Anwar told the investigator that he and two of his friends were passing by the shack and saw the girl playing there. He said they simply got into the house and raped her. However, Raja Shaukat cast doubts over his statement, arguing that he might have harboured grudge and planned the rape of the girl especially when he was accused of killing her father.

“We will produce the suspect before a court on Monday to take his physical remand so that we are able to grill him thoroughly,” he added.

The IO said that his two accomplices in the alleged rape could not be disclosed at this stage.

It may be noted here that in the previous month, five cases of rape had been reported to the Civil Hospital alone, and in all these cases the victims appeared to be minors.

BODY FOUND: An unidentified body of young man was recovered from the Cantonment Railway station on Sunday.