Kasur rape-murder accused held

The person, accused of rape and murder of a seven-year-old girl in Kasur, has been caught, Punjab Chief Minister Shehbaz Sharif announced on Tuesday.

Addressing a press conference in Lahore, Shehbaz said, "His name is Mohammad Imran. He is a 24-year-old resident of Kasur."

The Punjab chief minister also called Imran a 'serial killer'.

The minor's father and Punjab Law Minister Rana Sanaullah were also present at the press conference, Geo News reported.

Shehbaz added, "He [Imran] admitted to all his crimes in a polygraph test that was conducted after his DNA matched the sample. I am most thankful to the forensic lab who profiled 1,150 DNAs to find the real killer."

The Punjab Chief Minister said that he had been informed about the DNA profiling test earlier and the subsequent match with Imran. He, however, waited for the results to get confirmed by the forensic lab.

"I requested them [officials] to not discuss it after the match was found. I visited [the lab] next day after morning prayers and was told that it was a 100 percent match," continued Shehbaz.

Shehbaz had promised the minor's parents to bring her daughter to justice as soon as possible and that the culprit would be prosecuted in an anti-terrorism court with all legal formalities.

He also requested the chief justice of the Lahore High Court to ensure that the hearing of the case to is heard day and night, without any delay.

The minor, who was a resident of the Kasur district of Pakistan's Punjab province, was kidnapped on her way to a tuition centre on January 4.

Five days after her disappearance, she was found raped, dead and buried in a garbage dump on January 9 near Kashmir Chowk.

According to the initial post-mortem report, the minor was strangled to death after being raped multiple times.

As per the autopsy, the girl had marks of torture on nose, neck, and other parts of the body, the report said.

This incident incited huge protests in Kasur and other major cities of Pakistan.

The Punjab administration had then said that six personnel, including four policemen and two civil defence personnel, were arrested for allegedly opening fire at the mob.