KARACHI: Police on Sunday claimed to have achieved a breakthrough in the rape and murder case of a five-year-old girl in PIB Colony as DNA samples of both the arrested suspects matched while their fingerprints had already matched with the samples obtained from clothes of the victim.

East Zone DIG Mohammed Nauman Siddiqi, speaking at a press conference in his office, said that the investigation into the gruesome incident was carried out on the basis of technical and forensic evidence, and added that a third arrested suspect was found to be ‘innocent’.

He believed that it was a ‘blind case’ but with the help of technical evidence and professional capacity, the investigators managed to arrest the suspects.

“We have concrete evidence against the two arrested suspects,” DIG Siddiqi claimed.

He recalled that the minor girl had left her home near old Sabzi Mandi on Sept 4 to purchase biscuits from a nearby shop. The shopkeeper told the investigators that the girl had bought biscuits and left for home. But when she did not reach her home and despite mounting a search, her parents could not find her, they informed the PIB Colony police about her disappearance at around 10pm the same day and the police immediately registered a case.

He pointed out that during the night between Sept 5 and 6, the girl’s body was found lying on a garbage dump. A post-mortem examination was conducted by a female medico-legal officer at the Jinnah Postgraduate Medical Centre.

The examination confirmed that the child was raped before she was killed.

The investigators proceeded in the case by utilising technical and professional capacity and collected evidence.

The police detained a total of 34 suspects for interrogation whose DNA samples were taken and sent to a lab at the University of Karachi. During the course of investigation, the victim’s parents also extended full cooperation to the police.

The DIG East said that the police received fingerprints report of the two suspects from forensic science laboratory on Sept 17, which matched with the samples taken from the victim’s clothes.

The police have already arrested the suspects, he said, and added that the investigators also received the DNA samples report of the suspects on Sept 18 which also matched with the DNA samples of the murdered girl.

“The police will present the evidence before the court concerned to bring the culprits to justice,” said DIG Siddiqi.

The police said that during the current year, 489 children had been kidnapped or had gone missing in the metropolis and most of them reached home safely.

The DIG suggested that parents inform the police immediately in case of their child going missing or having been kidnapped because initial few hours were crucial in saving and recovering a victim.

Published in Dawn, September 21st, 2020