The prime suspect in a case pertaining to the rape and murder of a six-year-old girl shot himself to death as police closed in to arrest him at his residence in Chak 35 WB, Vehari.
The victim went missing one day before Eid. Her body was recovered from a local cornfield at 6:00 PM that same evening.
Vehari Sadr Police then registered a murder case under Section 302 of the Pakistan Penal Code against the suspect, identified as Mehboob, a resident of Chak 8 WB who was employed at the Dera Mangla Dam site.
Investigation details reveal that the victim regularly visited the tube well managed by Mehboob to fetch drinking water and wash clothes alongside other village women and girls.
During midday heat, Mehboob overpowered the child at the tube well, tied her hands, feet, and mouth, and assaulted her. The assault resulted in her death, after which the suspect transported the body to the cornfield and fled the site.
At 6:00 AM on Eid morning, a raiding team from the Vehari Sadr Police Station surrounded Mehboob’s temporary residence at Dera Mangla Dam to execute an arrest. Upon sighting the police personnel, the suspect retreated into a room and locked the door from inside.
“Officers repeatedly instructed him to open the door and surrender, but he refused,” a police spokesperson stated.
Moments later, law enforcement personnel heard a gunshot from inside the locked room. Police broke down the door and found Mehboob on the floor with a gunshot wound to the right side of his head. A 30-bore pistol was found next to his right hand.
Rescue 1122 personnel arrived at the location to administer first aid, but the suspect died at the scene.
Vehari Sadr SHO (Station House Officer) Hassan Aftab Kiyani took custody of the body and registered a separate case under sections AO 13(2a) and 20/65 regarding the illegal weapon.
Police handed the body over to the family of the deceased suspect after completing the required legal and post-mortem procedures.
