SARGODHA: The Sargodha police on Wednesday said the prime suspect in a recent murder case of a seven-year-old girl was killed “by his accomplices’ firing” during an alleged encounter with the Crime Control Department (CCD) after he allegedly escaped police custody.

The prime suspect was accused of trying to rape the girl before killing her, with her body being found in a shop on Monday, where the father said she had gone to buy some items.

The suspect had been arrested along with at least three others, on whose behest the criminal acts were allegedly committed.

On Wednesday, Sargodha Regional Police Officer (RPO) Shahzad Asif Khan told Dawn that the prime suspect accused of attempted rape and murder of the minor girl has been allegedly killed during an encounter with the CCD police early on Wednesday.

A first information report (FIR) filed by a CCD station house officer (SHO) early on Wednesday said the prime suspect, who had reportedly escaped police custody on Tuesday, died due to firing by his “accomplices”.

The details of how the prime suspect escaped from police custody and whether he was accompanied by anyone remain unclear, as the police appear unforthcoming in sharing their version.

Sargodha District Police Officer (DPO) Sohaib Ashraf said that the three other suspects arrested in the murder case on Tuesday remain in custody.

Wednesday’s FIR cited another FIR registered by the CCD on the escape of the prime suspect, which invoked several sections of the Pakistan Penal Code (PPC), including those on attempted murder, assault to deter a public servant from duty and resistance to apprehension.

The FIR recounting today’s CCD action invoked sections 302 (punishment of qatl-i-amd), 324 (attempt to commit qatl-i-amd), 353 (assault or criminal force to deter public servant from duty), 186 (obstructing public servant in public functions) and 34 (acts done by several persons with common intention) of the PPC, along with provisions of the Punjab Arms Ordinance 1965.

The FIR said a police team was on duty in Mitha Lak in the early hours of Wednesday when it received intel that the escaped prime suspect was standing on a road near Sem Nala with “three unknown persons”.

Subsequently, a CCD team reached the location at around 2am and saw the prime suspect and others standing there, the complaint said. It claimed that the suspects opened fire at the police team “with the intent to kill” and fled towards nearby bushes.

This prompted the CCD personnel to take “safe positions and shoot one or two aerial fires in response to the suspects’ shooting”, the FIR recalled.

It added that the suspects then hid behind the bushes and opened “continuous fire” aimed at the police party, severely injuring Constable Muhammad in his left arm.

“During this period, the suspects were asked loudly to stop firing and surrender, but the suspects continued their firing,” the FIR read, claiming that the shooting continued for 10 minutes.

When the firing stopped, the CCD team searched for the suspects in the bushes using searchlights and found a “dead person who died by his accomplices’ firing”, the FIR claimed. It contended that the other three unidentified suspects had fled from the scene in the dark.

The deceased person was identified by a head constable and a constable as the prime suspect wanted in the murder case, the FIR said. It claimed that an empty pistol was found lying next to the suspect’s body and Rs700 were found in the pocket of his shirt.

The complaint said the suspect was taken to Faisal Masood Teaching Hospital for a post-mortem and the objects found in his possession were taken into police custody.

The FIR accused the suspects of opening fire at the CCD team with the intention to kill and of “murdering their own accomplice”, contending they committed cognisable offences under the PPC.

The CCD, established last year, has been criticised by human rights advocates and civil society members for alleged extrajudicial police encounters and a high number of casualties.

In February, a fact-finding report by the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan (HRCP) alleged that the CCD has adopted a “deliberate policy of staged police encounters leading to extrajudicial killings”.

The HRCP said, based on press accounts, at least 670 CCD-led encounters were carried out across Punjab over eight months in 2025. More such deaths during encounters continue to be reported on a near-weekly basis.