LAHORE: Police have recovered the remains of a minor girl who was allegedly kidnapped and murdered by her father’s friend for ransom in Batapur area.

Police found her clothes, hair and bones in the nearby jungle of Batapur and suspected that wild animals had attacked her and eaten most parts of her body.

Fajar (6), Arshad’s daughter, was kidnapped two weeks ago while she was playing in the street and the suspect Kashif took her to an unknown location.

A police official said the gruesome crime story came to light when police arrested the suspected perpetrator and he confessed to his crime, saying he had planned to kidnap her for a million rupees ransom.

Kashif had initially borrowed Rs 500,000 from Arshad and later borrowed more money from him to buy a house. When his friend demanded his money back, Kashif used delaying tactics and then hatched a plan to kidnap Arshad’s daughter to extort ransom and pay him back the same amount.

The police official said Kashif strangled the child on the road 30 minutes after his abduction to conceal his identity and crime. He threw her body in the jungle and called her father to demand ransom using a voice-distorting device. He made two calls and the police arrested him when the investigating officers got a clear tip-off that he was behind the crime.

A surveillance camera also helped the police in their search for the suspect. The clothing samples and body parts found in the jungle were sent for forensic examination and the suspect’s mobile phone was also confiscated by the police.

Published in Dawn, 24 August 2024