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Remains of girl exhumed, two years after rape, murder
By Imran AyubThursday, 01 Jul, 2010
KARACHI: Startling disclosures made by two suspects arrested for possessing unlicensed weapons to interrogators led police to discover on Wednesday the remains of a 20-year-old girl buried in the room of an abandoned house along the Malir River, police said.
They added that the two men out on bail prior to their arrest told police investigators that they had raped the girl before strangling her to death over two years ago.
The disclosure came as a shock to the investigators of the Zaman Town police station, who had been grilling the suspects about their alleged nexus with arms dealers and gangs of robbers since the arrest of the two friends on June 13 and 15.
Following the shocking admissions, the investigation officer filed an application in the court of the Malir district and sessions judge for the disinterment of the victims body.
The court directed the special magistrate of the Bin Qasim Town, Ghulam Qadir Chandio, to supervise the disinterment.
Acting on the information the suspects had provided to the investigators, the police along with a four-member team of doctors headed by police surgeon Dr Hamid Pariyar, medico-legal officers and the special magistrate visited the house located in the Chakwal Chowk area of Madina Town a low-income neighbourhood along the Malir River within the remit of the Shah Latif police station.
After nearly five hours of efforts, a gunny bag wrapped with a scarf which was about six feet under the ground was finally dug up. The team of doctors comprising Dr Hamid Pariyar, Dr Farhat Mirza, Dr Abdul Haq and Dr Farida Ayaz took out the bag containing the remains of the girl.
They collected samples for an analysis to determine the cause of her death and the nature of torture that she allegedly underwent in the four-day captivity of the two suspects. The doctors said it would take a few days before they reached any conclusion.
Findings
According to the two suspects, the girl hailed from Dera Ghazi Khan, said Sub-Inspector Rana Mohammad Muneer, the investigation officer.
She became friends with one of them over the phone and, unbeknownst to her family, came to Karachi with a view to getting married.
According to the police, the girl came to Karachi by bus to see the suspect and he proposed to her in December 2007.
The suspect, instead of marrying her, took her to a rented home of his friend. They kept her there for four days. During her stay, they raped her and tortured her when she resisted, the police said.
They added that when the suspects found no way of getting rid of her, they strangled her to death and buried her in the same house.
The police said the crime remained uncovered until one of the suspects got arrested in Korangis 51-C for possessing a shotgun and more than a dozen rounds.
On a lead provided by him, the police arrested his accomplice in the same area a couple of days later.
They booked the two suspects in separate cases (FIR Nos 323 and 325/2010) under Section 13-D of the Pakistan Arms Ordinance, 1965.
Investigation officer Sub-Inspector Rao Mohammad Muneer said: We are aware of the fact that the two men are professional criminals and have been arrested several times in the past in the SITE, Landhi, Gulistan-i-Jauhar, and Korangi areas on charges of robberies, arms trafficking and vehicles snatching.
They recently came out of jail on bail in robbery cases. Because of their criminal record, they always remain under police watch. But the disclosures they made this time in response to queries about their recent hideouts left everyone startled.
Locating victims family
Meanwhile, the investigators are waiting for a response from the Dera Ghazi Khan police who have been requested to find the record of missing girls from the district since 2007.
The district police office has been formally informed about the incident. They have promised to get back to us as soon as they find any clue to the girl, the investigation officer said.
Amid police efforts to trace links to the victims family, the doctors started their investigation to find the way the alleged crime was committed.
Police Surgeon Dr Hamid Pariya said: The body was almost decomposed and we only managed to find bones and bunches of hair. Our exercise lasted for more than four hours. Through the analysis of the samples which we have obtained, we will hopefully determine if the girl was really subjected to rape and torture. The chemical examination will also look into the reasons of her death in line with the claims that she was strangled to death.
FIR registered
On Wednesday night, a case (FIR No 481/2010) was registered against the two suspects at the Shah Latif police station under Sections 201 (causing disappearance of evidence of offence), 302 (premeditated murder) and 34 (common intention) of the Pakistan Penal Code on the complaint of Sub-Inspector Muneer.
If sexual assault is proved through the chemical examination, the relevant sections of the penal code will be incorporated in the FIR, said the investigation officer.