Sargodha man kills 5-year-old boy to marry his mother

In a heart-wrenching incident, a young man in Sargodha kidnapped and killed a 5-year-old boy to marry his mother, it emerged on Wednesday.

After the murder, the accused harassed the woman's husband with anonymous messages, demanding a divorce in exchange for the safe return of the child.

The police arrested the accused after a nine-month investigation into the child's murder.

Shahzeb, the 5-year-old son of Rehman Ali, a labourer in Chak 107, was kidnapped in September last year.

The police investigation revealed that the mother of the victim had an affair with a village youth, named Mukarram, and had left her husband and children several times to be with him.

The couple wanted to marry, but Mukarram's parents were not willing to accept the woman's condition that her son Shahzeb would live with them.

The accused kidnapped Shahzeb, considering him an obstacle to the marriage. After strangling the child to death, he disposed of the body in a canal.

According to the police, mobile data revealed that Mukarram was the killer of Shahzeb, who murdered the minor boy to "remove the barrier from his marriage".

Shahzeb's mother was completely unaware of her son's murder. After nine months, the police called it a success in tracing the abduction and murder of the minor victim.