MARDAN - A minor girl, who went missing on Saturday, was found dead in Gujjar Ghari area on Sunday evening.
The four-year-old girl went missing on January 13th from outside her house and found dead from a garbage dump in the nearby locality, police said.
The Saddar police have formed a four-member team to investigate the case from different aspects and the team has arrested 20 suspected in this connection, police and local sources said.
An official who is part of the investigation told that Muhammad Zahir, a resident of Chandar Par Gujjar Ghari, told the police that his four-year-old niece, identified as Asma went gone missing on January 13th. He told that the family members searched her out everywhere but to no avail.
Later on Sunday evening, some locals and relatives found her body dumped in the field of sugarcane crop near Chandar Par Mohallah. The body was shifted to the District Headquarter Hospital for the autopsy. The autopsy report showed that she had been killed by pressing her throat. There were signs of torture on her body. Sources added that father of the deceased is currently working in Saudi Aradi.
The police registered a murder case against unidentified persons on the report of the victim girl uncle, Mohammad Tahir, and launched the investigation.
Meanwhile, Nazim Himayatullah Mayar, Commissioner Zakir Hussain Afridi, Deputy Commissioner Imran Hamid Sheikh, District Police Officer (DPO) Mian Saeed Ahmed, SP-operation Abdul Rauf Babar and other officers visited the house of the deceased.
DPO Dr Mian Saeed Ahmed while talking to the media at Mardan Press Club said that four teams were established to investigate the case from different angles. He added that a joint investigation team (JIT) is also organized under his supervision to investigate the case.
He added that the incident occurred in a far area where CCT V cameras and other electronic facilities weren’t available on the crime scene due to this reason it is difficult for police to investigate the case on technical basses.
He added that police is depending on the only human information. He added that the deceased was killed by pressing her throat while signs of torture were also found on her body.
He added to facilitate the police a “Jirga” of local elders was also established. He added that the members of the “Jirga” will also provide information to police. He added that murder of the minor girl is a blind murder.
He added that local police has accepted this case as a challenge. He added that local police has announced 0.5 million rupees award for that person who will give information about the accused involved in the murder.
He added that the police have arrested 20 suspected people and investigation is underway from them.
Riaz Khan