LAHORE: An anti-terrorism court on Wednesday remanded the suspect behind the murder-after-rape of four minor boys in Chunian, Suhail Shehzad, into police custody for 15 days.
The court, presided over by Judge Abdul Qayum Khan, also ordered a medical checkup of the suspect.
Shehzad was brought to the courtroom with a black hood over his head.
In his statement to the court, the investigation officer said that the suspect had been brought to court in pursuance of a first information report (FIR) registered against the sexual assault and murder of one of the four boys.
The cases registered for the other three boys were being probed by a joint investigation team (JIT), he informed the court.
A day earlier, Punjab Chief Minister Usman Buzdar had announced the identification of the “serial killer behind the rape and murders of four minor boys” in Kasur district. According to him, 27-year-old Shehzad was identified using polygraphic and DNA testing.
Four children — aged between eight and 12 years — had gone missing since June with the latest, Faizan, 8, disappearing on the night of September 16.
The remains of three were found on Sept 17 from sand dunes near Chunian bypass.
The chief minister confirmed that the suspect was behind all four cases and murder which shook Kasur last month.
“The case against him will be pursued in an anti-terrorism court,” he announced, adding that “I will oversee the Chunian case myself”.
He said that action has been taken against police officials because of whom the case got prolonged; however, no further details were given in this regard.
According to the Punjab Inspector General of Police (IGP) Capt (r) Arif Nawaz Khan, the suspect is a resident of Rana Town in Lahore and committed the crimes in June, August and September.
Meanwhile, protests were held to express concern over lawlessness and the failure of police to protect the lives of people.
In the last few years, Kasur has been rocked by multiple incidents of abuse, rape and killing of children. In January 2018, six-year-old Zainab Ansari was found dead in a trash heap near Shahbaz Khan Road, five days after she went missing. Police arrested the prime suspect, Imran Ali, on January 23, 2018.
On June 12 the Supreme Court had turned down his appeal against the death sentence, noting that he had admitted to committing similar offences with eight other minor victims. Ali was, subsequently, executed in October last year.
In 2015, Kasur’s Hussain Khanwala village made headlines when a child pornography ring was busted. Hundreds of video clips had emerged showing a gang forcing dozens of minor boys and girls to perform sexual acts and filming them.
The gang had also used the videos to blackmail families of the children and extorted millions in cash and jewelry from them.