Pakistani police hunting the man who raped and killed a six-year-old girl have released further sketches and surveillance footage of the last moment she was seen alive.
CCTV footage shows Zainab Ansari being led away by a suspect five days before she was found raped and strangled on a rubbish pile about a mile from her home in Kasur, east Pakistan.
The child’s horrific murder sparked outrage across the country and led to thousands of people taking to the streets of Kasur, Lahore and Karachi in protest.
Murdered: Zainab Ansari, six, was caught on CCTV being led away by a mystery man and was found raped and strangled on a rubbish pile about a mile from her home five days later
New evidence: Police released the second clip of Zainab and a man after nearly a week of trying and failing to catch the killer
Police have come under fire for their slow response to Zainab’s murder, and this weekend failed to catch the killer within a 36-hour deadline given to them by the Lahore High Court.
In the wake of their failure, police have now released another CCTV clip showing Zainab walking alongside a man.
They have also released a third clip, showing a lone man walking down a street, believed to be the same man as in the second clip.
The police’s new releases have been criticised, as the appearance of the man in the new footage seems different from that of the man seen taking Zainab in earlier release.
However, with police questioning dozens of people in Kasur, it is thought they may pursue a lead that Zainab’s killer did not act alone.
Suspects: Police have released these two suspect sketches as they continue to hunt Zainab’s killer more than a week after her death
Mystery: Police also released another clip of a lone man walking, saying he is a ‘person of interest’
Criticised: Local news has questioned why the CCTV of the lone man was released as he appears to be of a different build than the man who took Zainab
CCTV footage captured a man walking hand in hand with the little girl the day she disappeared
Zainab was kidnapped on her way to a Koran recital while her parents were in Mecca on a religious pilgrimage.
A post-mortem examination revealed Zainab died of strangulation with local media reporting examiners found evidence of torture.
Doctors said the young girl’s hyoid bone had been fractured, which strongly suggests she had been strangled.
Her father Anees Ansari has accused the police of acting slowly and letting he culprit get away.
‘If the police would have acted immediately, the culprit would have been caught,’ he said upon his return to Pakistan.
According to a police document obtained by the BBC, there have been ten similar cases in Kasur since January last year.
Traces of the same DNA have been recovered from six of the victims, including Zainab’s body, indicating that she was the victim of a serial killer.
All six of those victims were young girls who went missing close to their homes and all of their remains were found in rubbish dumps or abandoned houses. They all lived within a two mile radius.
Pakistani students protest during a rally condemning the rape and killing of Zainab Ansari
Anees Ansari, Zainab’s father, accused the police of being slow to respond when his daughter went missing.
The protests against police inaction had erupted on January 10 with two demonstrators killed in clashes with the police
Anger: Hundreds of people blocked roads and shut down markets for a second day in the city of Kasur to demand justice for Zainab
Zainab’s murder caused outrage in Pakistan, and violent mass protests have been shaking Kasur, located in Punjab province, since her body was found.
Hundreds of protesters hurled projectiles at a hospital, attacked the home of at least one local politician, and complained of police inaction.
Last Wednesday, at least two protesters were killed when police fired into the crowd of demonstrators as they tried to storm a government building in Kasur,
‘Up to 1,000 protesters are in the streets,’ Kasur police spokesman Muhammad Sajid said.
‘They have thrown stones on the buildings of the government hospital, police and deputy commissioner’s office… Security is deployed and trying to control the situation.’
The demonstrators accused police of failing to act over the child murders.
Sajid said that up to 20 suspects had been apprehended ‘but the investigators have been unable to find any clue so far’.