KOHAT: The police suspect some close relatives might have been involved in the assault and murder of a minor girl to avenge a clash they had with the victim’s family some time ago.

Sources told Dawn here that the police were interrogating a number of suspected relatives of the victim girl.

They claimed that some relatives had clashed with the victim’s family over some dispute recently and they wanted to take revenge for that.

Meanwhile, district police officer Sohail Khalid said that 115 suspects were under investigation but nobody had so far been arrested in connection with the murder.

He said a suspected woman arrested the other day was being interrogated by a team at her home in the Khattak Colony.

He added that CCTV footage showed the woman taking the girl away from her house half an hour before her body was found in a drain.

He said the woman was a neighbour of the victim’s family, adding she had been put under house arrest and ordered not to leave her home till arrest of the killers.

APPEAL: The Kohat Chamber of Commerce and Industry (KCCI) has appealed to the government to pass on the benefit of the appreciating rupee by controlling the spiraling inflation.

In a statement issued on Monday, KCCI president Asad Javed said the government should review its decision of increasing the gas price as it would have an adverse effect on the economy.

He said the government should control inflation before the start of Ramazan.

He said hoarding was another issue which needed to be addressed urgently.

Separately, assistant commissioner Talha Zubair accompanied by police personnel sealed 16 shops, eight eateries and arrested 13 persons over violation of Covid-19-induced SOPs during an operation on the University Road on Monday. He also imposed fines on the owners of shops and restaurants.

Published in Dawn, March 30th, 2021