PESHAWAR: The accused in the sexual abuse and murder of a seven-year-old girl in Peshawar has pleaded guilty in the court.
The court sent the accused, Asif Raza, alias Malang, to jail on 14-day remand. The accused was produced in the court of Judicial Magistrate Sanaullah where he confessed to strangulating the girl after subjecting her to sexual abuse. He told the court that after his crime, he brought petrol from a nearby filling station and set the body of girl on fire in a hope to conceal evidence.
On Friday, the accused was arrested from Khyber tribal district and he confessed to his crime during interrogation. The next day, the house of the accused was razed and set on fire by the local enraged people.
The alleged murderer of the girl, Rabia, in Peshawar was arrested by police from Khyber tribal district. Badhber Police Station Peshawar officials said the local elders in Bazaar Zakhakhel in Khyber tribal district nabbed the alleged murderer and handed him over to police. The accused is a neighbour of the victim girl who had escaped after killing her in Peshawar.
A police team was sent to Khyber district to bring the accused to Peshawar. The little girl after being given a Rs10 note from her grandfather had gone out of home to buy candies from a shop on November 21 when she was killed and her body was set on fire.
A video of the accused has also surfaced on the social media in which he is confessing killing the girl, setting her body on fire and then throwing the remains in a graveyard. The accused admits during the video that the victim girl was his cousin and he killed her over family enmity.
The burnt body of the girl was found in a graveyard of Badhber, a day after she went missing. The residents of the area staged a massive protest against the incident and blocked the main Kohat Road for several hours.
Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP) Operations Mansoor Aman had said police swung into action soon after the girl’s disappearance was reported. Local sources said the body was spotted by a gravedigger in the graveyard.
Once the villagers had confirmation about the killer, they formed lashkar and razed the house and set it on fire.
