Chunian case suspect confesses to killing 4 minor boys – Pakistan

The alleged four-child rapist-murderer of Chunian confessed his crimes to a judicial magistrate on Wednesday, deputy attorney general Abdul Rauf Watoo said.

Sohail Shahzad, the main suspect in the case, has been in police custody for more than a month. During the investigation, the suspect confessed to killing four minor children, the prosecutor said.

He added that after his confession, the suspect, after the approval of the court of first instance, was presented to a magistrate to register his statement under Section 164 of the Code of Criminal Procedure (CrPC).

Four children, aged between eight and 12 years, had disappeared since June of this year with the last Faizan, aged eight, disappeared on the night of September 16.

The remains of three of them were found on September 17 in the sand dunes near the Chunian beltway, sending shock waves among residents of the area who protested to express their concern about the continued illegality and inability of the police To protect people's lives.

Suspect Shahzad, a Chunian resident, was arrested on October 1 after his DNA matched the samples recovered from the remains of a victim. Punjab Prime Minister Usman Buzdar announced his arrest at a detailed press conference. The next day, the 27-year-old suspect was brought before an antiterrorist court in Lahore. He was held in police custody for 15 days and then his preventive detention was extended twice.

Shahzad is the eldest of four brothers and three sisters. His father is a worker and the family lives in a rented house.

In 2011, he was registered in a sodomy case and a five-year prison sentence was imposed by a local court. Later, he allegedly pressured the victim's family to reconcile and was eventually released from prison after a year and a half.

During the first hearing of the Chunian case, when Shahzad was presented to the anti-terrorism court for the first time, the investigative officer explained that the suspect had been taken to the court in search of a First Information Report registered against the sexual assault and murder of One of the four boys.

The cases recorded by the murders of the other three children were being investigated by a joint investigation team, he explained.

At the next hearing, the officer had informed the court that the suspect's DNA had coincided in two more cases and that they would also take him to court to deal with those cases.

Child abuse in Kasur

Chunian's case was a grim reminder of the rape and murder of six-year-old Zainab Ansari, who was found dead in a pile of garbage near Shahbaz Khan Road in Kasur in January 2018. It was the twelfth incident of its kind occurred within a 10 kilometer radius in Kasur for a period of 12 months. His death had caused protests and outrage throughout the country.

The first suspect, Imran Ali, was arrested on January 23, 2018, and on June 12 the Supreme Court rejected his appeal against the death sentence, noting that he had admitted to committing similar crimes with eight other minor victims. Ali was subsequently executed in October of last year.

In recent years, Kasur has been shaken by multiple incidents of abuse, rape and murder of children.

In 2015, the Hussain Khanwala village of Kasur attracted worldwide attention when a child pornography ring was stopped. Hundreds of video clips have emerged showing a gang forcing dozens of younger children to perform sexual acts and film them. The gang also used the videos to blackmail the children's families and extorted millions of cash and jewelry.