Zainab’s killer gets death on five counts in two other cases

LAHORE: An Anti-Terrorism Court Judge Sajjad Ahmad Sheikh on Tuesday awarded death sentence to one Imran Ali on five counts who is currently on death-row in Zainab murder case over the charges of rape and murder of two other girls.

The ATC judge announced the judgment after the prosecution led by Abdul Rauf Wattu established the role of Imran in the rape and murder of two other girls. This time court has convicted Imran in cases No 352/16 and 188/17 registered in Kasur.

In first case, Imran has been awarded death on one count, 25-year imprisonment on two counts while in other case, Imran has been awarded death sentence on four counts.

The court has also directed the convict to pay a total Rs2,250,000 as compensation to the legal heirs of the victim girls. Earlier, on Saturday, Imran was awarded death sentence on 12 counts for the murder and rape of three other girls.

Previously, on February 2, an ATC had awarded death sentence on four counts to Imran Ali, on the charges of kidnapping, rape and murder of 7-year-old Zainab Amin of Kasur after completing the trial in a record seven days time.

Zainab Amin was abducted on January 04 from nearby her aunt’s house in Kasur where she was going to learn Quran. Her body was recovered from a heap of garbage near her house on January 9.

Earlier, Punjab police showed its conventional behaviour and didn’t bother to investigate the matter. But after some time pressure started to build through social and mainstream media and police started investigation. The police collected DNA samples of 1,187 people from January 12 to January 23 in a bid to hunt the actual accused.

Meanwhile, the census data about the locality residents was also collected. The DNA samples were collected of the persons between ages of 22 to 40-year-old. First six streets near Zainab house were marked to get DNA samples of aforementioned ages. On January 20, more than 155 DNA samples were collected and the forensic revealed the sample of one accused matched. On January 23, the forensic after completing its procedure confirmed it was Imran Ali whose DNA matched. The same day the accused was arrested. When the accused was in police custody he was taken to a place where his dress and walking style was examined. He was then matched with the sketch which the department concerned had made.

A three-member prosecution team headed by Abdul Rauf Wattu assisted the court. The statements of 33 witnesses were recorded during the trial proceedings, including Zainab’s uncle and brother.