LAHORE: An Anti-Terrorism Court (ATC) on Wednesday handed over main accused in Zainab murder and rape case to police on a 14-day physical remand for investigation.
The police produced accused Imran Ali before ATC amid tight security arrangements. The DNA and forensic reports against the accused were also submitted in the court as evidence. The DNA test was conducted by Punjab Forensic Laboratory.
The police requested the court for the physical remand of the accused for the probe after which ATC granted a 14-day remand of the accused. The will now appear before the court on February 8, 2018.
Police on Tuesday arrested the prime accused Imran in view of the DND test. The accused who lived near Zainab’s house, has also admitted to committing the crime, the police said.
Punjab Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif in a press conference in Lahore on Tuesday night formally announced the arrest of a key suspect in the rape and murder case of Zainab. The chief minister said: “Zainab’s suspected killer and rapist is a 23-year-old man namely Imran Ali and the suspect is a serial killer based in Kasur who is accused of raping and murdering six to seven girls.”
The accused’s DNA matches with samples taken from Zainab’s body, police further claimed. Imran had also been taken into custody earlier but was released due to having no solid evidence.
On January 21, the Supreme Court gave three day-time to a joint investigation team to track down the rapist and killer of Zainab.
Mohammad Idrees, who is heading a joint investigation team, to probe the incident, submitted a progress report to the court as saying that Zainab’s rape and murder was the eighth incident of similar nature that had taken place in Kasur since June 2015.
On January 4, Zainab went missing while going to her aunt’s house in Kasur. Some days back, her body was found from a heap of garbage. The incident sparked wide-spread protest across the country.