MARDAN - The police have traced the alleged murderer of a minor girl, Asma, a member of the joint investigation team on condition of anonymity told The Nation on Tuesday.

The member said that the police team is waiting for the DNA test report which the police had sent to the forensic laboratory.

According to details, the four-year-old girl, Asma, a resident Jandarpar Gujjar Garhi area of Mardan, had gone missing some 11 days ago. Later on, her body was found at sugarcane fields. Addressing a news conference soon after the incident, District Police Officer Dr Mian Saeed Ahmed told that a four-member team has been established to investigate the case from different angles.

He added that a joint investigation team (JIT) is also constituted in 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 allegedly killed by pressing her throat while signs of torture were also found on her body. 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.

However, later on, Nazim Himayatullah Mayar claimed that the girl was raped and later on killed. He claimed that the post-mortem report suggested that the victim was raped. He said that there were marks on her neck. He said that so far they were satisfied with police investigations. However, he said that police were trying to hide sexual assault on the victim.

Himayat Mayar alleged that police are just trying to save the image of provincial government by distorting facts. Sources added that after the post-mortem the doctors send the specimen taken from different parts of the body including liver, stomach, kidney, heart and other parts of the body to the forensic laboratory for a DNA test.

However, at that time Iftikhar Ali Mashwani lawmaker of PTI rejected it that the minor girl was raped before the death.

Later on political parties, leaders and chief minister and minister visited the house of the deceased and expressed their sorrow on her death. Later on, a Jirga was established included by the elders of the Gujjar Ghari village to supervise the progress of the murder case. An elder of the area who is also a member of the mentioned Jirga on the condition of anonymity said that local police has arrested more than 200 people and interrogate and investigate them and also gained their blood sample.

Sources added that local police has allegedly succeeded to search the accused allegedly involved in the murder of the minor girl. However, the police are waiting for the DNA tests. Sources added that after the DNA result the case of the minor girl will be solved.

It may be noted that the District Nazim Himayat Mayar on Wednesday addressed to the district council meeting said that police arrested 200 people. He added that later on police release all the arrest people, however, two people are still missing which confirm the elder claim that police succeeded in searching the accused involved in the murder.