12-year-old girl murdered after rape

In yet another heart-wrenching incident in Karachi, another girl was killed after being allegedly subjected to rape on Tuesday.

The body of the 12-year-old victim was brought to Jinnah Postgraduate Medical Centre for an autopsy from a house located in Jacob Lines Area within the limits of the Brigade police station.

Initially, it was reported that the girl had committed suicide; however, the case took a turn after the initial police inquiry and initial findings of doctors came in. The initial findings of doctors suggested that the girl had been sexually assaulted and murdered.

According to Karachi Police Surgeon Dr Summaiya Syed, the girl was brought dead at the medico legal section of the JPMC. She said a postmortem was carried out after the inquest papers were received from the investigation officer.

“Physical findings are strongly suggestive of violent sexual assault and her death occurred due to asphyxia resulting from strangulation,” the police surgeon told The News. “Visceral samples have been collected to rule out intoxication and swabs have been made for semen serology, DNA profiling and cross- matching,” she said.

Police investigators have initiated investigations from different angles following the initial findings of the doctors. “The family of the girl is with the police and we are now registering a case,” Brigade SHO Khalif Rafiq told The News.

The girl’s father is a gardener in the Karachi Metropolitan Corporation. Investigators will also question the family members, other relatives and neighbours in order to probe the incident. This horrific incident comes after a minor girl was abducted, raped, tortured and killed in Landhi’s Muslimabad area last month.

Rapist identified

The prime suspect of the Landhi case, in which a little girl was kidnapped, raped, beaten and murdered in the Muslimabad neighbourhood last month, has been identified but is yet to be caught by the police.

The investigators have made significant progress by identifying the suspect from the DNA samples of his brother and son. After the samples of over 100 people were tested, the prime suspect was identified as Riaz, alias Kaka. He is married but his wife has left him.

Police, however, are yet to arrest the man. They claimed to have arrested a facilitator named Aman, who corroborated Riaz’s involvement in the incident. But Riaz went into hiding after the incident. He was identified with the help of his family members’ DNA samples.

Confirming Aman’s arrest, Quaidabad Station Investigation Officer Arshad Awan told The News that the detainee is the prime suspect’s brother. “Aman helped his brother flee despite knowing what he had done. We are looking for Riaz and will arrest him soon.”

Police said the prime suspect’s mobile phone has been switched off. They said his brother’s and son’s DNA samples were cross-matched with the deceased girl’s to identify him. They said the laboratory at the University of Karachi produced results in two days, adding that raids were being carried out to arrest the prime suspect.