LARKANA, Feb 13: Police on Monday found decapitated body of a child whose severed head was found in an industrial area here on Feb 4.

SP (headquarters) Aijaz Tareen told Dawn that police found the decomposed body wrapped in a polythene bag in a gunny sack lying against the wall of prisoners' waiting hall on the premises of the district and session court.

He said the criminals might have thrown the sack there after 5pm, he said. The decomposed body was brought to forensic laboratory where Abdul Lateef Khokhar recognised it as that of his nephew Suleman Khokhar, 8.

The SHO of Waleed police station, Riaz Abbasi, said that children playing near the prisoners' shed spotted the gunny bag and informed nearby Civil Lines police station.

After taking photographs and finger prints the body was brought to mortuary at the Chandka Medical College Hospital and handed over to relatives after post mortem.

After the recovery of severed head on Feb 4, police had raided the Gadani village near Dhamraho and picked up Deedar Khokhar, a sub-inspector of police, Aamir Khokhar and Hafeez Khokhar whom the bereaved family had suspected of being involved in the brutal murder.

Ghulam Mustafa Khokar, father of the slain boy Suleman, had first accused Ghulam Shabbir, Bashir, Deedar, Imran and Aamir of kidnapping and killing his son over an old enmity. Later, he nominated Aamir, Imran, Hafeez and two unidentified men in an FIR lodged under section 302 (murder), 364 (kidnapping with the intention to kill) and 6/7 of the Anti-Terrorism Act at the Waleed police station.

The accused were arrested and produced before the judge of Anti-Terrorist Court (ATC) Larkana, Abdul Hakeem Brohi, on Feb 9 who remanded them in police custody for five days.

Larkana SSP Aetzaz Ahmed Goraya formed a joint investigation team on Feb 6 headed by Inspector Zahid Soomro to investigate the cold blooded murder.

According to police, on Nov 13, 2003, two boys Mujahid, 10, son of Bashir Khokhar and Ali Haidar alias Lakhmir, 10, son of Ghulam Shabbir, who had gone missing were later found dead.

Mujahid's body was found buried in an under-construction house and chopped up body of Lakhmir was recovered from Rice Canal stuffed in a gunny bag.

Police initially suspected Suleman's murder to be in revenge of the double murder because families of Suleman and Mujahid were at loggerheads with each other over a piece of three acres of agriculture land, said sources in police.

Suleman's father Ghulam Mustafa and Mumtaz Khokhar, a police head constable, were booked in the double murder case and sent to jail.

The case was being heard in the anti-terrorism court when the witnesses defected and changed their statements. Sometime later, former ambassador to UAE Khursheed Junejo brought about a truce between the rivals by declaring Ghulam Mustafa and Mumtaz Khokhar guilty of the double murder and imposing Rs4 million fine on them, which they had paid cementing suspicions they might be guilty.

Opinion

Editorial

ICJ rebuke
Updated 26 May, 2024

ICJ rebuke

The reason for Israel’s criminal behaviour is that it is protected by its powerful Western friends.
Hot spells
26 May, 2024

Hot spells

WITH Pakistan already dealing with a heatwave that has affected 26 districts since May 21, word from the climate...
Defiant stance
26 May, 2024

Defiant stance

AT a time when the country is in talks with the IMF for a medium-term loan crucial to bolstering the fragile ...
More pledges
Updated 25 May, 2024

More pledges

There needs to be continuity in economic policies, while development must be focused on bringing prosperity to the masses.
Pemra overreach
25 May, 2024

Pemra overreach

IT seems, at best, a misguided measure and, at worst, an attempt to abuse regulatory power to silence the media. A...
Enduring threat
25 May, 2024

Enduring threat

THE death this week of journalist Nasrullah Gadani, who succumbed to injuries after being attacked by gunmen, is yet...