The toddler’s body was found on a street near her residence in Gulberg. It had a dupatta tied around her neck as a noose — indicating that she may have been strangled — on the morning of October 9 (Wednesday), said police.
According to the police, an image extracted from a CCTV footage of the arrested suspect has also been obtained in which he is seen carrying the victim’s body in a sack.
Police officials also mentioned that the rape of the toddler was confirmed in the post-mortem report and that the suspect is being interrogated as part of the case’s investigation.
After the victim’s body was found a day earlier, it was taken to Abbasi Shaheed Hospital for medico-legal formalities.
According to police, the little girl — identified as Amna — was the youngest of six siblings, and her father is currently in Saudi Arabia to perform Umrah.
Police said the girl had followed her siblings at around 7:15am when they left for school in the morning, and was found dead at 7:30am at a short distance from her home.
The victim’s mother had maintained that they had no enmity with anyone.
According to police, the initial post-mortem report suggested that the girl was sexually assaulted and strangled to death. Police surgeon Dr Summaiya Syed, however, said the cause of death and opinion regarding sexual violence was reserved till the medical report.
The incident comes less than two months after a minor girl was allegedly raped and murdered before being thrown in a garbage dump in Karachi’s Saddar area in August.
The 12-year-old victim was found stashed in a gunny bag from the garbage dump near Lucky Star.
Dr Summaiya, while citing the victim’s autopsy report, had confirmed that the girl was subjected to “sexual abuse”.
