KARACHI: The body of a six-year-old boy, who went missing on Monday, was found stuffed in a gunny bag near his residence in the Lea Market area and an autopsy found he was murdered after being raped.

Police claimed to have arrested the boy’s 20-year-old neighbour, who reportedly participated in a search operation launched by the victim’s family and area residents.

The victim’s father, Abid Husain, told police that he is a rickshaw driver by profession and lives in Muslimabad, Punjabi Gali. He said that when he returned home on July 6 at around 3pm, his daughter informed him that her brother, Muhammad Wali, had taken Rs50 to purchase something from the shop at around 2:30pm but had not returned. Subsequently, he searched for his son and also made announcements from area mosques, but the boy could not be traced.

On his complaint, the Napier police had registered an FIR under Section 364-A of the Pakistan Penal Code and Section 3 of the Prevention of Trafficking in Persons Act 2018 and launched an investigation.

The police said that the tortured body of the boy was found late on Tuesday night. The corpse was shifted to the Civil Hospital Karachi for a post-mortem examination.

South DIG Syed Asad Raza said during the initial probe, the held suspect revealed that he had kidnapped and raped the boy.

He said after killing the boy, the suspect kept his body on the rooftop of his house. On Tuesday night, he threw the body, wrapped in a gunny bag, from the third floor onto an empty plot, which was immediately noticed by area people who opened the bag and saw the body of the missing boy, the DIG said.

Some residents brought the suspect from his residence and subjected him to beating before the arrival of the police, who took him into custody.

The DIG said the suspect is a carpenter by profession and originally hails from Phool Nagar in Lahore. He was a neighbour of the victim, whose family also belonged to Punjab.

The victim was the only son of his parents, who had four daughters.

Published in Dawn, July 9th, 2026