Woman accused of killing girl child arrested in Kohat

KOHAT: The police on Wednesday claimed to have arrested a woman involved in the murder of a four-year-old girl in Khattak Colony a few days back.

Speaking at a press conference, District Police Officer Sohail Khalid said that Hareem Fatima, daughter of Naveed Iqbal and resident of Khattak Colony, had gone missing on March 24 last.

Soon after the incident, he said a team of expert police officials along with other departments, including Town Municipal Administration and civil intelligence officials, was constituted and launched a search operation for the recovery of the missing child.

Finally, the police recovered the body of Hareem Fatima from a sewerage line in the nearby vicinity. The body was then taken to the hospital at Kohat Development Authority for post-mortem.

The official said that the police after registering a proper First Information Report started an investigation to arrest the accused involved in the killing of the child. He said that over 100 suspects were arrested and interrogated to find a clue to the accused.

However, he said the case was worked out after footage of close circuit camera television (CCTV) was obtained in which the slain child was seen going with a burqa-clad woman (R), a resident of Khattak Colony.

The DPO said that after sometime the same woman was rushing towards her home without the child.

He said the police arrested the woman after the family of Hareem Fatima identified her.

He added that the police team interrogated the accused woman, who confessed to have committed the murder of the child by suffocating her and then throwing her body in the sewerage line in Khattak Colony.

The official said that all legal formalities were completed and relevant evidence had been collected in the case.

According to police, the woman wanted to marry the uncle of Hareem Fatima but her father was the main hurdle to it.

She said that she committed the crime to take revenge from her father for not allowing his brother to marry her.

Regional Police Officer Tayyab Hafeez Cheema and DPO Sohail Khalid along with other police and civil intelligence officials had visited the residence of the affected family and assured that all available means would be utilised to arrest the accused at all costs.