Police arrest man resembling Kasur rape-murder suspect: sources

LAHORE: Police have arrested a man resembling the suspect seen in the CCTV footage with Zainab, the seven-year-old girl who was brutally raped and murdered in Kasur last week, sources told Geo News on Monday.

Sources, however, told Geo News that the DNA of the arrested man does not match with samples found from the victim's body.

According to sources, police have cast doubts over the statement recorded by the arrested man and will now carry out a polygraph test to ascertain veracity of his statement.

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Meanwhile, authorities have decided to carry out a search operation in the vicinity of the victim's house. Sources said authorities have acquired census data of 1,200 houses around Zainab's home to carry out the operation.

Zainab was brutally raped, murdered and dumped in a garbage pile, in a chilling tragedy that sparked nationwide protest and grief.

Earlier on Monday, a new CCTV video emerged showing a suspicious person beckoning her to come with him, after which the little girl, donned in a frock and leggings, walks towards him. 

In the previous CCTV footage, Zainab was seen walking with the man.

Displeased at no real progress in the case, the chief justice of the Lahore High Court had summoned IGP Punjab over the police's failure to nab the culprit(s). 

The IGP Punjab, however, did not appear in the Lahore High Court on Monday.

During the hearing of the suo motu case, LHC Chief Justice Justice Mansoor Ali Shah remarked that the Punjab government and police appeared non-serious in the rape and murder case of Zainab.

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The Punjab chief minister has also constituted a joint investigation team for inquiry.

The incident prompted Chief Minister of Shehbaz Sharif to form a 20-member committee on safeguarding children. Minister for Law Rana Sanaullah was made the convener of the committee with the minister for schools as the co-convener.

The committee — in its first session on Sunday — proposed the recommendations to form a Deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) database and make amendments to the child protection laws in order to curb child abuse in the province.

The recommendations will be submitted to the CM Punjab by January 16.

Meanwhile, the Punjab government also decided to introduce child protection curriculum in schools across the province.