SARGODHA — The prime suspect in the brutal murder and attempted rape of a seven-year-old girl was killed early Wednesday morning during an alleged police encounter, just hours after reportedly escaping custody, according to the Sargodha police.
Sargodha Regional Police Officer (RPO) Shahzad Asif Khan and a First Information Report (FIR) filed by the Crime Control Department (CCD) state that the suspect was killed by gunfire originating from his own fleeing accomplices, rather than police weapons. The incident comes immediately after a local court had granted a six-day physical remand for the prime suspect and three co-accused on Tuesday.
According to the police complaint, a CCD team acting on intelligence arrived near Sem Nala in the Mitha Lak area around 2:00 AM on Wednesday, where the escaped suspect was spotted alongside three unidentified men. The FIR claims the suspects opened fire on the police with intent to kill before retreating into nearby bushes. CCD personnel retaliated with aerial warning shots, after which a 10-minute shootout ensued. One police officer, Constable Muhammad, sustained a severe gunshot wound to his left arm.
When the firing ceased, police searched the thickets using searchlights and discovered the prime suspect dead. The three unidentified accomplices successfully fled the scene under the cover of darkness. Law enforcement recovered an empty pistol next to the body and Rs 700 in the suspect’s pocket. The body was subsequently shifted to Faisal Masood Teaching Hospital for a post-mortem examination.
Sargodha District Police Officer (DPO) Sohaib Ashraf confirmed that the three other co-accused—including the grocery store owner where the child’s body was found on Monday—remain securely in police custody. However, the exact circumstances surrounding how the prime suspect managed to break out of police custody on Tuesday remain entirely unclear, with departmental officials remaining unforthcoming with details.
The newly filed FIR invokes heavy sections of the Pakistan Penal Code (PPC), including Section 302 (murder), Section 324 (attempted murder), and Section 353 (assault on a public servant), alongside provisions of the Punjab Arms Ordinance 1965.
The rapid death of the suspect has renewed intense scrutiny on the Punjab police’s Crime Control Department (CCD). Established just last year, the specialized unit faces severe criticism from civil society organizations and human rights advocates who label these incidents as staged, extrajudicial killings.
A formal fact-finding report published by the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan (HRCP) earlier this year explicitly accused the CCD of maintaining a “deliberate policy of staged police encounters.” According to documented HRCP data, the unit was involved in at least 670 police encounters across Punjab over an eight-month period alone, with suspected extrajudicial fatalities continuing to be reported on a near-weekly basis.
