BAHAWALPUR: Four suspects who raped and killed an 11-year-old girl on March 24 were her relatives, with two of them her maternal uncles.

Sadar police SDPO Agha Fasihuddin told media on Sunday the culprits were traced by police teams with the help of geofencing, using latest technology.

The SDPO said a special investigation team, constituted by DPO Asad Sarfraz Khan, immediately cordoned off the crime scene with the help of officials of the Crime Scene Unit and Punjab Forensic Agency and a search operation of adjacent 50 houses was carried out.

The data of each family member of these cordoned-off houses was collected and they were interrogated. Out of the family members of 50 houses, 25 members were short-listed. After the interrogation of 25 family members of different houses, 15 suspects were picked up and their DNA tests were sent to Lahore.

During DNA process, the interrogation of these suspects in police custody continued and after the receipt of DNA results, four suspects were identified and were arrested. Now, they will be produced before a court for their physical remand. Dawn learnt that after their DNA tests results, the suspects in their initial statement before the investigation officer (IO) confessed to committing the crime.

According to their confessional statement, the four said they raped the eleven–year-old girl and then murdered her in the sunflower fields to hide their gruesome act.

The girl had gone out of the house to fetch water from a nearby hand-pump in Basti Baqirpur in the suburbs of Bahawalpur city.

The Sadar police registered the case on the complaint of victim’s mother. Her postmortem examination’s initial report had also confirmed the rape.

Meanwhile, DPO Asad Sarfraz Khan says strict security measures have been taken on the occasion of Eidul Fitr as 1,400 personnel would be deployed around 400 Eid congregations across the district.

Published in Dawn, March 31st, 2025