Police arrest three suspects in Kasur rape case

LAHORE: Police on Saturday arrested three suspects in the Kasur rape case while the main suspect seen walking away with the girl is still at large.

Police official informed earlier that the culprit did not act alone and had at least two abettors with him.

Punjab Chief Minister Shehbaz Sharif will address the media after the final suspect is arrested.

Earlier in the day, the police released a fresh footage of the alleged murderer of seven-year-old Zainab who was sexually assaulted and killed after being kidnapped in Kasur.

In the new footage, a bearded man strikingly similar to the alleged abductor can be seen walking near Zainab’s house. The man is seen wearing a dark coloured cap and something quite similar to the grey shalwar kameez and the brown jacket that the alleged kidnapper was wearing in the original CCTV footage.

Meanwhile, Punjab chief minister’s adviser Umer Saif has published a report pertaining to the developments made in the eight-year-old Zainab rape case, in which at least 247 individuals have been termed as suspects after reviewing the CCTV footage.

Investigators have collected significant data through geo-fencing. The people suspected to be involved in the rape and murder of the seven-year-old girl included those who departed from her residence and passed by it.

During the period, five mobile numbers were used whereas three calls were made from a suspected number.

Punjab Law Minister Rana Sanaullah, talking to a private TV channel, revealed that the presence of serial killer in the case was possible and that the collected DNA of the culprit from Zainab’s body indicated that the suspect was aged between 30 and 35 years.

Zainab’s medical report confirmed ample evidence of assault and rape on the little girl’s body. She had torture marks on nose, neck, and other parts of the body as the rapist slit her wrists and choked her to death.

Punjab government spokesman Malik Ahmed Khan admitted that their government is yet to take a number of measures for the protection of children, adding that meaningful steps are essential.

He stressed the need to educate and aware the elders so that such incidents can be avoided in future.

Zainab was allegedly kidnapped on January 4 as she left her house in the Road Kot area for her maternal aunt’s house located a few minutes away. On Jan 9, five days after she had disappeared, labourers found her dead body in a trash pile. Police have clarified that the man in the CCTV footages is only a ‘person of interest’ as of now.