A local court on Friday remanded in police custody for five days a man suspected of sexually assaulting several minor girls, as investigations proceed following his arrest.
The suspect was arrested on Thursday, South Superintendent of Police (SSP) Mehroze Ali revealed last night, while disclosing the gruesome details of the man’s alleged crimes.
The SSP said that the arrest followed multiple complaints of assaults on children in the Qayyumabad area of the metroplis. He said that three separate cases had been registered against the suspect over the course of a week. The suspect had allegedly targeted several young girls multiple times, he added.
The police officer also revealed that the suspect had been involved in such acts since 2016 and would lure the victims with money before sexually assaulting them. He further disclosed that over 100 videos of assaults had been recovered from the suspect’s mobile phone, while a USB device containing several more videos had also been seized.
SSP Ali said that the suspect had rented both a room and a shop in the area and would allegedly take the girls there on different occasions, enticing them with money.
An initial police report on the matter, revealed that the suspect first arrived in Karachi from Abbottabad in 2011. In 2016, he moved to Qayyumabad and started running a cart to sell juice. Investigators added that since 2016, he had been targeting children between the ages of five and 12.
The report further revealed that the suspect would offer small rewards to children who came to his cart and then take them upstairs to the room, where the crimes were allegedly committed.
South Deputy Inspector General (DIG) Asad Raza said that the suspect targeted another girl just a few days ago, but she managed to secretly take away a USB device from his place, which was later found to contain over 100 videos related to the assaults.
The report confirmed that the suspect would record videos of the acts. A diary was also recovered from his possession, which contained details of some of the victims.
The police produced the suspect before a judicial magistrate in Karachi (South) earlier in the day. The court granted the police a five-day physical remand of the suspect and handed him over to investigators for further questioning.
According to police officials, the suspect in the case – who is being interrogated – had been registered at the Defence Police Station following his arrest on Thursday night. Further probe into the matter is underway, they added.