Murder of 13-year-old boy: Nowshera police yet to net main accused

PESHAWAR: The Nowshera Police have failed to arrest the main culprit in the murder case of a 13-year old boy.

According to preliminary investigation and the medical report, Adil Khan was sexually assaulted and strangulated to death four months back.

Rahim Khan, father of Adil Khan, told The News that they seized two of the accused in the murder case of his son and handed them over to the police. He said the third accused is still at large.

According to the first information report (FIR) lodged at the Nowshera Kalan Police Station, the incident happened on October 20, 2017 in Kheshgi Payan village.

It came to surface when the decomposed body of Adil Khan was found in a field of maize crop.

One of the accused, Zubair, who was seized by his relatives and handed over to the police, had confessed to the police that he and his two accomplices sexually assaulted and killed Adil Khan to hush up the incident.

After his confession, the police recovered the decomposed body of the teenager and sent it for autopsy to a hospital in Nowshera.

The other accused Ibrar alias Toti was also caught by the villagers and handed over to the police. However, the third accused Zeeshan is on the run.

All the accused belong to Kheshgi Payan village. The victim’s family hailed from Urmar village in Peshawar district and had shifted to Kheshgi Payan, Nowshera a few years back.

Rahim Khan said that his only son Adil Khan sold maize-cobs in the village after school time. He said his son went missing on October 20, 2017.

“We started searching for our missing son. We found his cellphone that was sold by the accused to a local shopkeeper. We caught Zubair who lived in our neighborhood,” he said.

He added that Zubair disclosed the names of his other two accomplices to the police.

“Four months have passed but the main accused couldn’t be arrested by the police,” Mohammad Deedar, the grandfather of the victim, told The News.

He said they tried to meet the district police officer Nowshera to convey their concern to him as their family was told that there were some high-ups in the local police who were backing the main accused.

“We even tried to meet Chief Minister Pervez Khattak as he belongs to Nowshera to tell our grievances about the so-called exemplary police in the province,” he added.

Adil Khan was the only brother of three sisters. His parents moved back to their native village Urmar after he was killed.

The pictures and video of his decomposed body taken by the police at the time of recovery were circulated on social media and the print media

“We demand early arrest of the third accused and exemplary punishment to all those who were involved in the murder,” a relative of Adil Khan said.

He argued that if the Punjab Police could arrest the main accused in Zainab murder case and Mardan Police managed to apprehend Asma’s alleged killer then why the Nowshera Police has failed to bring the main accused in Adil Khan’s murder case to justice.

When contacted by phone, District Police Officer Nowshera, Qasim Ali Khan told The News that the police were aware of its professional duties and had made several raids to arrest the accused in the case.

He claimed the doors of his office were open for all and the victim family could visit him anytime.