Police have arrested three suspects accused of burying a 14-year-old boy alive after he reported being sexually abused by them in the Jhaal Chakian area of Sargodha, officials said on Saturday.

The boy, identified as Ghulam Rasool, had been missing for a day before farmers heard cries from a nearby field.

Upon investigation, they found him buried in the soil and immediately alerted police and rescue personnel, who dug him out and shifted him to District Headquarters Hospital Sargodha, where he remains under treatment.

Sargodha District Police Officer (DPO) Sohaib Ashraf told the media that the teenager had allegedly been sodomised by three suspects approximately 20 days before the incident.

After the boy informed his family of the abuse, the suspects allegedly buried him alive to silence him.

A case has been registered and is being investigated from all angles on the basis of the family’s complaint, with authorities pledging strict legal action against those found responsible.