Zainab murder accused remand extended

LAHORE: Anti-Terrorism Court Judge Sajjad Ahmad on Wednesday extended remand of Imran Ali for two days, an alleged pedophile booked by the police over the charges of raping and killing eight minor girls including seven-year-old Zainab from Kasur.

An investigation officer (IO) informed the court that investigation was being carried out from the accused and evidence has been collected. He told the court that Imran took Zainab to an under-constructed house where he raped and killed her. He said after that he threw her body at a dumping site, near her house.

The investigation officer stated that the investigation has almost been completed from the accused but requested the court to extend the remand of Imran for two more days for finalising investigation and submission of challan.

The court accepted plea of the investigation officer and extended the remand. Earlier, the same court had remanded Imran Ali in police custody for three-day over charges of killing and raping seven minor girls in Kasur.

The police pleaded that Imran’s DNA samples matched with swab collected from the bodies of seven other minor girls. Previously, on January 24, the same court handed over the suspect to police on 14-day remand, with directive to the investigators to produce him with an investigation report.

The horrific killing after rape of Zainab made headlines across the globe and brought national and international condemnation. The public demand for immediate arrest of the culprit resulted in an unprecedented search in which almost all law enforcement and secret agencies took part and a large pool of suspects were probed, besides carrying out DNA profiling of more than 1100 people. It is pertinent to mention here that in Eman Fatima rape and murder case Punjab police had already killed one Mudaasar in an encounter.