Muhammad Arslan, the main suspect in the rape and murder of eight-year-old Muntaha Zahra, was denied burial at multiple graveyards in Sargodha after residents refused to allow it, following his death in a police encounter, a private media outlet has reported.
After completion of legal formalities and a post-mortem examination, the body was transported to several locations for burial. Residents near multiple graveyards turned the body away amid widespread public anger. Locals boycotted funeral proceedings and refused to allow prayers or burial in their cemetries. Arslan was eventually buried at 58 North Graveyard, with only seven people attending the funeral.
Police have claimed that Arslan was shot dead by his own accomplices during a weapon recovery operation on Tuesday night. Police spokesperson Khurram Ali told a news outlet that Arslan and four others were arrested on the day of the incident.
He was handed over to the Crime Control Department (CCD) and was being taken out for recovery of the murder weapon when his accomplices opened fire on him, killing him on the spot. Three suspects remain in custody while legal proceedings continue.
District Police Officier (DPO) Sargodha Shoaib Ashraf told journalists that police received information around 12pm on Monday that Muntaha had gone to a grocery store and had not returned. Officers searched the three-storey store floor by floor.
“When police reached the second floor, they found two to three drops of blood on the floor,” Ashraf recounted.
“The washroom on the same floor was opened and more blood was found inside. A knife was lying in the adjacent drain and around Rs50 was also found nearby, which likely belonged to the child.”
Police recovered Muntaha’s body from the roof, behind sacks and debris.
According to the FIR [First Information Report] registered at City Police Station Sargodha, Muntaha left home at 11am on Monday to buy something from Hanif Kirana Store in Karkhana Bazaar and did not return.
“After some time we started looking for her and went to the store but she was not there. Shop owner Muhammad Abbas gave no response when asked,” her father Mohammad Naeem said in the FIR.
When Naeem and his companions reached the third floor, Arslan fled by jumping across adjoining rooftops. Naeem found his daughter alive but critically wounded. She succumbed to her injuries at the scene.
“Muhammad Abbas, Muhammad Hanif and Muhammad Ehsan instigated Arslan to kill my child during a rape attempt because I had an argument with the shop owners over a financial matter a few days earlier,” Naeem stated in the FIR. “They had threatened me, saying they would make me remember it for the rest of my life.”
The victim’s post-mortem has been completed and she has been buried, police confirmed.
