Muhammad Arslan, the prime suspect in the rape and murder of seven-year-old Muntaha Zahra in Sargodha, 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. On Tuesday, Arslan was handed over to the Crime Control Department (CCD) and was being taken out at night for the recovery of the murder weapon when his accomplices opened fire on him, killing him on the spot.

Three suspects remain in custody and legal proceedings against them are ongoing.

District Police Officer (DPO) Sargodha Shoaib Ashraf told journalists that police received information at around 12pm on Monday that a girl named Muntaha had gone to a grocery store and had not returned. Officers from the relevant police station 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 said.

“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,” he added.

Ashraf said that police then took a key and went up to the roof via the staircase, where Muntaha’s body was recovered from behind sacks and debris.

According to the FIR [First Information Report] registered at City Police Station Sargodha on the complaint of the victim’s father Mohammad Naeem, Muntaha left home at 11am on Monday to buy something from Hanif Kirana Store in Karkhana Bazaar, located next to their home, 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,” Naeem said in the FIR.

When Naeem and his companions went to the third floor, Arslan fled by jumping across adjoining rooftops upon seeing them. Naeem found his daughter alive but critically wounded and taking her last breaths. 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,” FIR stated.

The victim’s postmortem has been completed and she has been buried, police said.