Alleged rapist remanded in police custody

PESHAWAR: A local court handed over an alleged rapist and killer to the police on a three-day remand on Saturday.

The accused was presented before the court amid tight security.

The police on Friday arrested the main accused, Asif Raza alias Malangay, who had allegedly sexually assaulted the seven-year-old girl Aalya in Badaber. He later killed the girl and set her body on fire to destroy the evidence last month. Asif Raza was arrested from Khyber after which he was presented before the court.

There was anger among the villagers of Badaber and nearby villages after the girl child, Aalya alias Layya, was killed and her body was thrown into a graveyard after setting it on fire.

Soon after hearing the news about the arrest of the accused, a large number of angry villagers gathered in Badaber and torched his small mud-house because the locals were angered at the killing of the girl.

“The accused confessed that he sexually assaulted the child when she came to his house where he was alone. He later killed the girl and burnt the body to destroy any evidence,” Capital City Police Officer (CCPO), Peshawar, Mohammad Ali Gandapur had told reporters.

Last month, four-year-old boy Tahirullah was found dead in the fields in the limits of the Badaber Police Station. Though his abdomen was cut, no organ was removed as was being reported earlier in the media.

Five days later Aalya was killed and her body was set on fire in Balokhel area of Badaber. The two incidents had created an atmosphere of fear in Badaber and rest of rural Peshawar.