According to the police, the bodies of two young brothers, five and three years old, were recovered from a flour canister in a house in Millat Park area of Lahore on Sunday, whose abduction case was registered by their father.
The Superintendent of Police (SP) of Iqbal Town Police Station Usman Tipu told Independent Urdu that two days ago the children’s father had registered an FIR of their abduction at the Millat Town Police Station.
According to SP Usman Tipu: ‘Two days ago, these children went missing, on which the Millat Park police station registered an urgent case of missing i.e. abduction.’
He further said that he himself sat with the SHO of Millat Park Police Station and other officials and watched the footage of the CCTV camera installed in the residential street of the victim family on Friday and Saturday, in which they came to know that the children Did not come out of the street.
According to Usman Tipu, the bodies of the two children were recovered from the flour canister inside the house on Sunday morning. ‘When the smell started coming from the flour canister, upon checking, it was found that the bodies of the two children were inside.’
SP Model Town said that the police is investigating the whole matter. The children’s father does not have a permanent job but works as a day laborer with property dealing and had three children. His elder brother, who lives with him, also has three children.
According to Usman Tipu: ‘Initially there could be two possibilities, one of which is that the children, while playing, hid themselves in the canister and its lid was closed and they could not open it.
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There is also a children’s school bag lying near the canister. Children may be sitting in it and the lid is closed and such boxes automatically latch when the lid is closed. The children could not open it and they might have rung or made a noise from inside the canister but no one was at home so no one heard the sound.’
According to SP Usman: ‘Two families live in this house, of which the family of their aunt lives on the upper floor and the children live with their parents on the lower floor. Both men were not at home. We saw in the footage that the children’s father left home at 1:16 on Friday afternoon and the children arrived home from school around 2:30.
He further said that the initial investigation also revealed that the children’s mother had gone to the house of her mother i.e. the children’s grandmother, which is opposite their house. The children came home from school and returned home to meet their mother at their grandmother’s house. Only his mother was present at home at that time. When the children’s mother returned home at 4:00 p.m., she did not see the children.
At the same time, he said that ‘another possibility is that someone entered the house and killed the children and locked them in a canister and left. This will be determined by the post-mortem report of the children, but apparently there are no injuries on their bodies.’
Usman further said that the police is investigating the case from all aspects while the bodies of the children have been sent for post-mortem, the report of which will come in two days.
On the other hand, IG Punjab Dr. Usman Anwar has taken notice of this incident and ordered a full investigation into the case and has sought a report from CCPO Lahore.
The IG Punjab also directed that in the light of the evidence and medical report, the cause of death of the children should be determined keeping in mind both aspects including the accident and murder.
Child Protection and Welfare Bureau Chairperson Sara Ahmed also expressed regret over the incident and directed her team to contact the parents of the children immediately.