The Pakistani police on Tuesday arrested a 23-year-old man for the rape and murder of a seven-year-old girl in Kasur district of the country’s Punjab province, Al Jazeera reported.
He lived in the same neighbourhood as the girl and reportedly knew her family. He has confessed to the crime, the report said, citing a police official.
“We have found some initial evidence and there is well-found reason to believe he is the culprit,” Malik Ahmed Khan, spokesperson for the Punjab government, told Dawn. The police had arrested this suspect earlier but had then released him for lack of evidence.
Khan said the suspect often disguised himself. “Sometimes he would keep a beard, sometimes he would wear spectacles, and he would change his clothes,” Khan said, adding that a detailed forensic report of the suspect would be available on Tuesday evening.
The girl’s body was found in a heap of trash days after she went missing from near her house on January 4. She was on her way to a tuition centre, and her parents were in Saudi Arabia for Haj. Her death triggered massive protests in the district, where there have been 11 similar cases earlier.
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