MULTAN, Oct 30: Three minor sisters were murdered in Jalla Arrain area of Lodhran district on Saturday by unidentified culprits. Shabana, 9, Rehana, 7, and Farzana, 5, of Chak 386/WB, went missing on Friday last as they did not return home after attending their school.

Their father Jam Azam Larr and other family members searched them but to no avail. On Saturday morning, their bodies were spotted in a nearby cotton field.

Police suspected that Shabana and Rehana were raped and strangled while Farzana was killed with a sharp edged weapon.

Postmortem examination on the bodies was conducted at the Makhdoomwali Rural Health Centre and report will be issued a couple of days later.

When contacted, Jalla Arrain SHO Rana Mushtaq said police had arrested one Tajammal in connection with the murders. He claimed that Tajammal had confessed to committing the crime.

He said the girls' father and mother had publicly admonished Tajammal a couple of days before the incident as they had found him enticing Shabana to a deserted place.

The area people, however, were not convinced with the police story as they said Tajammal was the person who first saw the bodies and then informed Azam about them.

They said foot prints of about four people were visible around the place from where the bodies were recovered while the police was claiming that only one man was involved in the crime.

Meanwhile, the girls were buried late Saturday night.