Rawalpindi Police Kill Main Suspect in Girl’s Rape-Murder Case in ‘Encounter’

RAWALPINDI: The main suspect in the rape and murder of a teenage girl was killed in an encounter with Crime Control Department (CCD) police on Tuesday in the Ratta Amral police station area of Rawalpindi. Police said the suspect was the victim’s uncle.

According to police reports, a CCD team signalled the suspects to stop at Alamabad Stop on Children’s Park Main Road. The suspects ignored the signal and opened fire on the police team instead.

During the exchange of fire, the suspects fled the scene. One of them was found injured at the spot and later succumbed to his injuries.

Suspect identified as Abbottabad resident

The deceased was identified as Mamrez Abbasi, a resident of Abbottabad. Police recovered a 30-bore pistol from him.

His body was shifted to Civil Hospital Rawalpindi for postmortem, while a search operation is under way to arrest the absconding suspects.

The Rawalpindi case: a seminary student found dead in Dhoke Naju

The killing follows the discovery last week of a teenage girl who had left her house to attend a seminary at about 1:30pm in Dhoke Naju. She was found strangled and tortured in a close relative’s house the next day.

The initial police investigation found that the girl had been raped and then strangled by the suspect, who escaped after the crime.

Police traced the case with the help of CCTV cameras, which showed the girl with one of her uncles. The suspect lived in the same area as the victim’s family.

The encounter raises the familiar questions that follow such police killings in Punjab: whether the suspect was deliberately targeted or died in a genuine exchange of fire, and whether the absconding accomplices will be brought before a court. Police have not yet released the postmortem findings or said how many suspects remain at large.

The case had drawn attention because the victim was a minor and the suspect a close relative, a pattern that has repeated in several recent child-assault cases in the province. A Lahore court recently sent a woman accused in the rape case of an Azeri national on physical remand, underscoring how quickly such cases move once suspects are in custody, and how differently they end when suspects die in encounters.

What happened in the Rawalpindi encounter?

CCD police signalled suspects to stop at Alamabad Stop in Rawalpindi on Tuesday. Police say the suspects opened fire, and in the exchange that followed, the main suspect in the girl’s rape-murder case was injured and later died. A 30-bore pistol was recovered from him.

Who was the suspect?

Police identified him as Mamrez Abbasi, a resident of Abbottabad and the victim’s uncle. His body was shifted to Civil Hospital Rawalpindi for postmortem.

What was the original case?

A teenage girl from Dhoke Naju who left home for a seminary was found strangled and tortured in a relative’s house the next day. Police investigation found she had been raped and then strangled. CCTV footage helped trace her movements with one of her uncles.