LAHORE - Police on Saturday claimed that an alleged bandit arrested in connection with armed robberies, has confessed to investigators during preliminary investigations that he had sexually assaulted a five-year-old girl in Lahore last year. Police sources identified as the criminal as Ijaz Ahmed, a resident of Kasur district. However, a senior police investigator did not officially confirm the arrest. “An accused is being interrogated by the police in connection with several criminal cases. Once the process of the interrogation completes, we will be able to tell the facts,” said the police officer, who preferred not to be named. Sources further said that an accomplice of the accused is at large while police are conducting raids for his arrest. A police official revealed that the wife and sister of the accused, who is at large, are detained by Ghaziabad police to force the culprit to surrender. The accused also told investigators that he along with his accomplice was parking a car in the hospital premises when they spotted the child. They took her to the car and raped her inside the vehicle. When her condition deteriorated, they escaped instantly leaving the girl outside the hospital. Last year, the appalling incident had become high-profile case after it created much-hype in the national and international media. It also triggered protest and rallies across the country in favour the victim. The police detained and interrogated several men in connection with incident but all were released later as the police failed to identify the culprit. The five-year-old girl was found outside the Ganga Ram Hospital on September 13, 2013 a day after she went missing from a low-income Mughalpura neighbourhood. Doctors said the child was raped several times. A watchman who found the girl unconscious moved her to Sir Ganga Ram Hospital. Athorities woke up to the issue after the media flashed the story.  Chief Justice of Pakistan Justic Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry and Punjab Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif had also taken notice of the incident but the police failed to solve the case.  The Punjab CM also made repeated plegdes to bring the rapist(s) to book and help the aggreived family get justice.