LAHORE: Police have arrested two suspects who allegedly buried a teenage boy alive after the latter informed his family about the sexual abuse inflicted on him by the former in Jhaal Chakian area of Sargodha, it emerged on Saturday.

The harrowing crime was discovered when a passerby spotted the boy’s hand sticking up from the ground, prompting locals to gather at the scene. They then proceeded to dig up the soil, finding the teenager in critical condition. Locals alerted the police and the teenager was shifted to the hospital in critical condition.

“The 14-year-old boy was allegedly sodomised by three suspects some 20 days back in Jhaal Chakian area,” Sargodha District Police Officer (DPO) Sohaib Ashraf told Dawn.

He said that the suspects had threatened the boy that he would face dire consequences if he told anyone about what had happened. They also told him to pretend that nothing had happened, he added.

According to initial reports, the DPO said the suspects later came to know that the boy had informed his relatives and named the accused. He added that the suspects then kidnapped the boy on Friday and buried him alive in a deserted area in Jhaal Chakian.

“Police traced two of the prime suspects and sent them behind bars after lodging a case,” the DPO said, adding that another police team had been dispatched to track down the location of the third suspect.

The DPO said further proceedings would be initiated after recording the victim’s statement.

The incident comes days after a seven-year-old girl was found murdered in Sargodha, with police saying that the preliminary autopsy report indicated that she had been raped.

On Wednesday, Sargodha police said the prime suspect in the case was killed “by his accomplices’ firing” during a reported encounter with the Crime Control Department, after he allegedly escaped police custody.