Accused in Asma murder case not yet traced

MARDAN: A senior police officer here said on Tuesday they haven’t yet traced the accused in the murder case of four-year- old Asma. Mohammad Alam Khan Shinwari, Deputy Inspector General of Police, Mardan Range, told The News that investigations are continuing, but the accused hasn’t been identified.

Earlier, a member of the jirga formed for the supervision of the Asma murder case investigation claimed that the police had traced the accused. The jirga was constituted by elders of the Gujjar Garhi village to supervise the progress in the investigation of Asma’s murder.

The elder on the condition of anonymity told The News that the local police had arrested more than 200 people and obtained their blood samples as part of the investigation. He revealed that the police had succeeded in identifying the accused and was now waiting for the DNA test.

It may be noted that Asma, resident of Jandarpar locality in Gujjar Garhi village in Mardan, had gone missing 10 days ago and her body was later found in a sugarcane field. Soon after the incident, District Police Officer (DPO) Mian Saeed Ahmed constituted four teams to investigate the case from different angles.

At a press conference, he said that a joint investigation team (JIT) has been set up in his supervision to investigate the case. He noted that Asma was strangulated to death while signs of torture were also found on her body. Later, the IGP Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Salahuddin Mehsud conceded that there was indication the girl was sexually molested before being killed.

The police had announced Rs0.5 million as reward for information that could lead to the arrest of the accused. Sources added that after the post-mortem, the doctors sent the specimen taken from Asma’s body to forensic laboratory for DNA test.