SARGODHA: Sargodha police said on Tuesday that they had arrested four suspects in the murder case of a seven-year-old girl whose body was found inside a shop.
The prime suspect in the case has been accused of attempting to rape the girl before murdering her. According to the first information report (FIR), the crime was allegedly committed at the direction of three other suspects.
In a statement shared on X, Sargodha police said the prime suspect, the owner of the shop where the girl’s body was discovered, and two other individuals had been arrested in connection with the case.
The police added that they, along with the Crime Control Department (CCD), were investigating all aspects of the incident.
Although the police statement confirmed the arrest of four suspects, Sargodha District Police Officer (DPO) Sohaib Ashraf told Dawn that a fifth suspect had also been taken into custody. However, he did not provide further details regarding the charges against the fifth suspect or his alleged involvement in the case.
Meanwhile, a court in Sargodha granted the CCD a six-day physical remand of the prime suspect. Civil Judge Imran Farooq approved the remand during a hearing.
A senior CCD official told Dawn that initial DNA test results matched the prime suspect. The official further said that the suspect had confessed during interrogation to sexually assaulting and killing the girl.
The FIR
The arrests came a day after City Police in Sargodha registered an FIR on the complaint of the girl’s father.
The FIR, a copy of which is available with Dawn, was registered under Sections 302 (murder), 376 (rape of a minor), 511 (punishment for attempting to commit offences punishable with imprisonment for life or a shorter term), and 109 (punishment for abetment if the act abetted is committed in consequence and where no express provision is made for its punishment) of the Pakistan Penal Code.
According to the FIR, the complainant said his daughter had gone to a kiryana store to purchase some items and frequently visited the shop.
He told police that he became concerned when his daughter did not return and went to the shop along with other people.
“When we asked the shop owner about my daughter, he did not answer,” the complainant stated, adding that he and those accompanying him then went to the third floor of the shop, where they saw the prime suspect.
The complainant said that upon seeing them, the suspect threw away a knife he was holding and fled. He added that he then approached his daughter, “who was breathing her last”.
He accused the prime suspect of killing his daughter after attempting to rape her.
The complainant further alleged that the crime was carried out at the behest of the shop owner and two other suspects. He also claimed that he had an argument with the shop owner two days before the incident, after which the shop owner allegedly threatened him and said he would “teach him a lesson for life.”