A court in Sindh’s Khairpur district handed over on Thursday a prime suspect in the mysterious death of a minor maid to the police on four-day physical remand.
Asad Shah, who denies the allegations, was transferred to Hangoorja Police Station for questioning.
Fatima, 10, was found dead in Asad Shah’s house in the Ranipur taluka of Khairpur district. Initial reports claimed she was killed and that marks of torture were found on her body.
The issue came to light through social media when a video of the house went viral on Tuesday with hashtags #Khairpur and #JusticeForFatimaFariro among the top trends on social media.
Fatima worked as a maid in Shah’s house and reports claimed that she was buried without a post-mortem examination. A statement from the police supported claims about evidence of sexual assault.
Shah was brought to the court amid tight security. In his statement before the court, he confirmed that the viral video was of his house. But he denied the allegations of torture.
“I myself gave this video to the police,” he informed the court.
He also said that several girls worked at his house and claimed that people “happily” left their daughters at their place.
But the court after hearing the arguments remanded him into police custody for four-day.
The first information report FIR) says another suspect Hina Shah had not been not arrested as of Thursday morning.
The complaint invoked sections 34 (acts done by several persons in furtherance of common intention) and 302 (punishment of qatl-i-amd) of the Pakistan Penal Code.
Ranipur SHO Amir Chaang has been suspended and taken into custody, said a spokesperson for Sukkur DIG Javed Jiskani.
Moreover, the doctor who allegedly made a fake report about the girls death has also been arrested.
The police have also recovered a digital video recorder of the CCTV from Shah’s possession and efforts were underway to recover older recordings.
Officials claimed that the accused was arrested despite the political influence.
Khairpur district SSP Rohail Khoso said that the police were informed on Tuesday about Fatima’s death on which he formed an inquiry committee. He claimed that the body was buried without informing the police.
Asad Shah denied the allegations when his name surfaced on social media in connection with the death.
He has provided a different version of events.
Fatima suffered from abdominal pain on August 12 on which she was taken to the doctor for a medical checkup, Shah told reporters on Wednesday. He added that the maid was diagnosed with Hepatitis in another test.
Shah claimed that they handed over the CCTV footage to the grieved family.
The prime suspect claimed that “certain people” were spreading propaganda against them. He supported an investigation into the matter but urged the people to refrain from making any accusations without confirmation.
The grieved parents in their initial statement said their daughter was working at “murshid’s” house due to poverty. It added that their daughter died due to illness. She had been ill for the past three days, they said.
But apparently after some cajoling from the police, the victim’s mother said that she found out about the death of her 10-year-old daughter from another minor maid working at the same house.
“Marks of torture are obvious on my daughter’s body. There were blood clots on her arm and bruises on the back of her body,” she said, “we had handed over the girl to Fayyaz Shah. Later, she stayed at Asad Shah’s house. I was informed about the illness of my daughter four days ago.”
The affected mother said that she learned about her daughter’s condition from another girl working with her daughter at the house.
“When we received the body, there were marks on her body and neck. My daughter had a fractured arm. She had bruises and some marks on her body.”
The mother demanded justice for her daughter who she claims was murdered. She added that if the child was murdered, she should have received treatment or else been sent back to her parents.
