Murder mystery of 10-year-old girl solved: Azad

Srinagar, Aug 30 (UNI) Jammu and Kashmir Chife Minister Ghulam Nabi Azad today informed the state Legislative Assembly that the rape and murder case of a ten-year-old girl has been solved with the arrest of a relative of the victim.

Making a statement in the House, Mr Azad said police have arrested Zahoor Ahmed Sheikh alias Pinka, a notorious person, in connection with the rape and murder of his relative Sabreena Fayaz Sheikh, a resident of Ikhrajpora here.

He said on August 23, Fayaz Ahmed Sheikh had lodged a report with the Raj Bagh police station stating that his daughter Sabreena had gone missing after she went to buy something from a nearby shop in Ikhrajpora at 1300 hrs the same day.

On August 24 at 1400 hrs, it was reported that the girl's body was recovered from a dilapidated house of a Kashmiri Pandit migrant in the same locality.

Mr Azad said an FIR (76/07) was lodged in the Raj Bagh police station and the body sent to the Police Hospital for post-mortem.

A board of doctors, comprising a forensic expert and a gynaecologist, was constituted to conduct the post-mortem. There were blood stains on the body of the girl and her vaginal swab was taken for tests, he added.

The Chief Minister said a special investigation team, headed by Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP), Srinagar, Afadul Mujtaba, was formed for speedy probe.

The incident had attracted a lot of attention and there were protests in the city almost every day, seeking immediate identification and the arrest of culprits, he added. There were also allegations of slow pace into the probe.

Mr Azad said the investigating agency after preliminary probe suspected that the culprit could be some known to the victim. About 25 people were questioned for four days while the family members were only called after the fourth day prayer ceremony, he added.

The Chief Minister said one of the persons picked up was Zahoor Ahmed Sheikh, a second cousin of the victim, who was suspected to have the intention of molesting the girl.

During sustained interrogation, Zahoor confessed to having lured the girl to a vacant and dilapidated house of a migrant Kashmiri Pandit where he first raped and then murdered her, he added.

Further investigations were in progress. Mr Azad commended the police for solving the murder mystery in the shortest possible time.

About the July 20 Langait incident where another ten-year-old girl, Tabinda Jan, was raped and murdered, he said the police had solved the case in about three days and all the four accused have been arrested.

The Chief Minister said scientific reports were awaited to enable the police to file a charge-sheet against the accused in the court of law. The state government would try to set up special courts or get a special judge appointed to hear such cases on day-to-day basis for speedy trial, he added.

UNI