KARACHI: Police on Monday detained a dozen suspects in the rape-cum-murder case of a five-year-old girl in PIB Colony on Sunday and expanded the scope of the investigation by collecting DNA samples of the suspects.

Area residents who blocked the main University Road for hours on Sunday have given a three-day ultimatum to the authorities for arrest of the culprits.

Separately, Opposition Leader in the Sindh Assembly Firdous Shamim Naqvi with several MPAs of the PTI met the family of the deceased girl and assured them of raising the issue before higher authorities for the provision of justice.

The Karachi police chief, Additional Inspector General Ghulam Nabi Memon, told Dawn that “we are working on it but so far the accused has not been identified”.

Mr Memon added: “All efforts are directed to carry out DNA of the suspects.”

According to relatives, the girl came out of her home near old Sabzi Mandi on Friday at around 7am to buy biscuits from a neighbouring shop when she was kidnapped. The family lodged her missing report at the police station the same day. Her body wrapped in a piece of cloth was found on a garbage dump in the same locality early on Sunday morning.

Police surgeon Dr Qarar Ahmed Abbasi said that the minor girl was subjected to criminal assault before being murdered. He said she suffered head injuries caused by hard and blunt instruments. The police surgeon said that she was not torched.

On Sunday, police detained a suspect, said to be a neighbour, whose DNA samples were taken and sent to a lab at Karachi University.

A delegation of PTI lawmakers led by Mr Naqvi on Monday visited the area and met the family.

PTI legislator Jamal Siddiqi, who is elected from the same locality and was part of the delegation, told Dawn that DIG-East Nouman Siddiqi informed them that over a dozen persons had been detained for interrogation whose DNA samples had also been taken and sent to the KU lab to see if they were involved in the gruesome incident.

The lawmaker revealed that the investigators had still not received the lab report of the one suspect who was detained on Sunday. He said they assured the grieving family that they would take up this issue before the Sindh chief minister and inspector general of police, and justice would be served.

The PTI lawmaker said that it was a highly congested locality from where the girl was kidnapped. It was not possible for outsiders to go there and kidnap the girl, said the lawmaker.

Mr Siddiqi criticised the police for the “traditional manner” with which they dealt with the kidnapping case of the girl and did not take it seriously when the FIR was lodged by the family.

Man dies

A 37-year-old factory worker died when a machine roller hit him in the Landhi area on Monday, police said. They added that Mohammed Israel was working in a dry cleaning factory near Murtaza Chowrangi. He was standing at some distance when a roller separated from the machine and fell on his head. He sustained critical injuries and died.

Published in Dawn, September 8th, 2020