The murderer of seven-year-old Zainab will be presented before anti-terrorism court today (Wednesday) for formal judicial proceedings against him.
Suspect Imran Ali has not only raped and murdered Zainab but is revealed to have killed seven other minor girls in a series of brutal incidents that range back to 2015.
Earlier on Tuesday, addressing to a joint press conference including Zainab’s father and Punjab Law Minister Rana Sanaullah, Chief Minister of Punjab (CM) Shehbaz Sharif confirmed that the murderer of Zainab was arrested after his DNA sample matched with that of culprit, thanking the law enforcement department and other people who helped solve the case.
He said, "I promised Zainab’s father that we will find the culprit. And today, after 14 days, we have arrested the culprit. "
Officers said that suspect Imran was Zainab’s neighbour and was detained on a suspicion on January 20, but was later released. The suspect fled to another city and came back after shaving off his beard, they claimed.
However, on Monday night, he was rearrested after his DNA test confirmed his involvement in rape and murder of Zainab.
Zainab was raped and murdered after abducted on January 4. Her body was found from a heap trash on January 9 in Kasur when her parents were in Saudi Arabia to perform Umrah.
The guardians complained upon return that late Zainab had gone missing at least five days ago and the police did not cooperate with the relatives, who were looking for the missing minor.
Zainab had marks of torture on nose, neck, and other parts of the body according to the autopsy. The samples collected from her clothes and body were sent to forensic laboratory.
Later, a joint investigation team (JIT) was formed to probe the murder case that collected data of 300 mobile phone numbers and six of them were marked for further investigation. Three footages were also emerged showing a suspect roaming with the victim.
Chief Justice of Pakistan (CJP) Mian Saqib Nisar had also taken suo motu notice of the case. During the hearing, the apex court expressed dissatisfaction over police’s investigation and said it should also use conventional methods as well instead of only depending upon DNA samples.
