KARACHI: The tortured body of a nine-year-old differently-abled boy, who had gone missing on Friday, was found on the back seat of a parked hatchback in Korangi in the small hours of Saturday morning, police and hospital officials said.

The corpse was taken to the Jinnah Postgraduate Medical Centre, where doctors confirmed that the boy was tortured, raped and then murdered.

The Zaman Town police said that the owner of the car informed the police about the body in his Suzuki Cultus. They said that the corpse was bluish and foaming from mouth.

Police Surgeon Summaiya Syed said that the victim was differently-abled and there were multiple injuries all over the body. “The cause of death and final opinion regarding the sexual assault is kept reserved till reports of chemical analyses,” she said.

Korangi SSP (Investigation) Abraiz Ali Abbasi told Dawn that the victim boy had gone missing from his home in the same vicinity on Friday afternoon, but the family did not lodge any report assuming that he would come back.

He said that during questioning the car owner told investigators that he had taken his mother for some medical check-up and then to a shop to buy milk in Korangi 3 ½. He said when he returned and parked his car in a ground he saw the body lying on the rear seat. He said he informed the police about the body.

However, the SSP said that it was nearly impossible that the driver could not notice a body lying on the back seat of the vehicle. He said the police detained the car owner and his brother for further questioning.

The police were also trying to obtain CCTV footage to ascertain veracity of claims of the owner, who was being treated as a ‘suspect’ in the case.

The Zaman Town police registered a case under sections 364-A (kidnapping or abducting a person under the age of 14), 377 (unnatural offences), 302 (premeditated murder) and 34 (common intention) of the Pakistan Penal Code on the complaint of the victim’s father.

Published in Dawn, March 12th, 2023