GUJRAT: Two boys were found dead in a metal trunk of a house after both went missing on Wednesday in Kassoki village of Hafizabad district.

Two uncles of one of the deceased boys, and their three accomplices, were among the suspects and police have arrested two of them.

Zia Ahmed lodged a complaint with the Kassoki police that his seven-year-old son Ahmed Ali had gone missing on May 28.

Meanwhile, Ittefaq Shah of the same locality said that his seven-year-old grandson Arshuman had also gone missing, after which the area people launched their search.

Uncles among arrested suspects

Some residents said both children had been spotted with Inzamam Shah, Zain and Ghulam Abbas earlier in the day.

On Thursday, the complainant along with other people knocked at the house of Ittefaq, where the suspects were present. Upon seeing the area people, they did not open the door and fled the scene.

However, the door was eventually opened and there was a smell in a room where they found the bodies of both missing boys inside a metal trunk.

Two of the suspects, Inzamam and Zain, are the paternal uncles of Arshuman.

Police and Rescue 1122 officials shifted the bodies to the hospital, where doctors conducted the autopsy and handed over the bodies to the heirs.

A team from the Punjab Forensic Science Agency collected forensic evidence from the crime scene, and the samples were sent for chemical examination.

Police and hospital sources confirmed marks of torture on both bodies.

Police have registered a case against four nominated and two unidentified suspects under sections 302, 363, 147, and 149 of the Pakistan Penal Code on the report of the complainant, Zia Ahmad Abbas, father of Ahmed Ali, and started investigation.

Initial findings revealed that suspect Inzamam, the uncle of Arshuman, had been a drug addict.

‘ENCOUNTER’: Two alleged cattle-lifters were killed in firing by their ‘own accomplices’ during an encounter with the Crime Control Department in Pindi Bawarey village of Vanike Tarrar police precincts, Hafizabad district, on Friday.

Police said seven suspects had snatched cattle from Mudassar Iqbal at gunpoint in Pindi Bawarey village. The owner informed police who chased the suspects who opened fire which was retaliated. When the firing stopped, police found bodies of two robbers who were killed in firing by their own accomplices.

The bodies were shifted to the Hafizabad DHQ Hospital where they were identified as Nadeem of Nankana Sahib and Gulzar Bhatti of Haveli Lakha, Okara district.

Published in Dawn, May 31st, 2025