Police shot dead a man suspected of abducting, raping and murdering seven-year-old Dua in an alleged encounter, officials said, days after the child’s body was recovered from the sea near Kemari.

SSP Kemari confirmed the suspect was killed during an exchange of fire with police.

Officers had been investigating the girl’s abduction and murder when CCTV footage and other evidence led them to the suspect’s location on a street near Mubarak Masjid.

When police reached the site, the suspect opened fire, prompting the encounter in which he was killed.

Police said evidence has been taken into custody and legal and forensic proceedings have begun to establish the dead man’s identity and his possible link to the case.

Dua, a resident of the fishing settlement on Baba Bhit Island, had gone missing the previous day.

Her body was found near Kemari Gate No. 1, close to Manora.

The case was initially treated as a drowning but was reclassified as murder after CCTV footage surfaced showing a suspect carrying a sack to the sea and later returning with it empty.

Police said the footage provided crucial evidence and that the suspect was believed to have been attempting to dispose of the child’s body.

A special investigation team was formed, and raids were carried out to trace and arrest the suspect.

The police surgeon confirmed that Dua had been raped before her death.

Speaking to Aaj News, the girl’s family said they had no enmity with anyone in their community.

“Baba Bhit is a fishing settlement. Dua was the only child in our house. We had been searching for her since yesterday, and today we found her body,“ a family member had said, demanding that whoever killed the child be swiftly brought to justice.