Zainab murder suspect lured victims promising to buy sweets

Investigators probing the rape and murder case of seven-year-old Zainab revealed that the arrested suspect in the case, Imran, used to lure his victims by promising to buy them sweets and other goods.

Kidnapped from near her aunt’s house on January 4, the body of Zainab was discovered from a garbage heap five days later. The post-mortem report revealed that she had been raped before being murdered. 

On Tuesday, Punjab Chief Minister Shehbaz Sharif confirmed that Imran murdered Zainab, referring to him as a “serial killer”.

Zainab's murderer caught, is a 'serial killer', confirms CM Shehbaz

According to sources, the accused has confessed to the heinous crime

According to information available to authorities, 24-year-old Imran was a resident of the same neighbourhood as Zainab's.

Officials in the JIT disclosed that Imran revealed during interrogation that he kidnapped Zainab at 6:45pm.

“When he couldn’t find an appropriate place [to rape her], he roamed around with her for over 1.5 kilometres and took her to a pile of garbage as he feared being caught if he went to a residential area,” the JIT official revealed, quoting Imran.

Imran reportedly said further that he used to kidnap girls from the houses where he was employed. He allegedly confessed to raping eight girls in under-construction houses and two on garbage piles.

Sources said Imran would take the girls out on the pretext of buying candy and hair clips, adding that he took Kainat Batool out on the pretext of buying yoghurt and later raped her. She survived and is presently under treatment at a hospital in Lahore.

Imran spent hours around Zainab’s house. His DNA matches those of eight girls whereas the samples of two girls raped earlier were wasted leading to an inconclusive DNA result.

The jacket which led to Imran

A jacket owned by Imran was among evidence which helped police narrow down on the suspect, according to a BBC report. 

The CCTV video showed the suspect wearing a zip-up jacket having two large buttons on either side. However, the CCTV video did not clearly show the jacket’s colour. Police carried out a raid at the suspect’s house where a black jacket with a similar design was found.

Imran was arrested as the prime accused in the case after his DNA matched with the sample collected from the site where Zainab’s body was dumped.

According to the report, Imran’s mother aided the police in tracking him own after his DNA sample had matched. 

Parents demand arrest of facilitators 

In an interview to Geo News, Amin Ansari, the father of Zainab, alleged that Imran did not act alone.

Zainab’s parents demand arrest of suspect Imran’s facilitators

The suspect did not act alone, Zainab's father alleges

“We got to know he [Imran] kept our daughter with him for five days before [killing her]. He kept her at his residence, that means his family [and friends] are also involved [in the murder],” the grieving father said.

“We demand that his facilitators be arrested as well and [swift] action be taken against them too,” Ansari asserted.

Zainab’s mother, demanding justice for her daughter, said that the suspect Imran had confessed to the heinous crime.