Seminary student murdered by classmates

FAISALABAD: 16-year-old seminary student reportedly met an untimely death at the hands of two classmates who allegedly killed him because they were jealous of his good grades. According to the local police, the suspects strangled the boy, disposed of his body in a roadside drain, and tried to pin the crime on their Holy Book’s teacher.

The young man, named Muhammad Shoaib, resided in Chak 237-GB and was studying in a seminary situated in Batala Colony. He was busy memorizing the Holy Quran with his little brother, Muhammad Abdullah.

The police said that Muhammad Shoaib was considered the most brilliant student of the seminary and earned the admiration of his Quran teacher, Qari Riffaqat. This appreciation from the teacher reportedly made the two students envious of Shoaib.

As per the findings of the police, on the night of June 28, the two teens strangled the student while he was sleeping. After killing him, they put his body in a sack and threw it in a roadside drain located on Satiana Road.

In response to queries by Qari Riffaqat regarding the whereabouts of Shoaib, the suspects denied any knowledge of the boy’s disappearance. The younger brother of Shoaib looked for the boy prior to telling their mother, and she contacted the authorities using the Rescue 15 helpline.

The initial report made by the Batala Colony police was one of a kidnapping case where they started searching for the missing student.

At the preliminary stages of the investigations, police informed that the suspects raised a baseless claim that Shoaib was beaten to death by his seminary teacher and was thrown away in the drain. Because of the serious nature of the claim, Qari Riffaqat was held in custody and interrogated.

But during the interrogation of the seminary students, the investigators got a tip off from a young student, who claimed that Rehan and Irfan were responsible for killing and disposing of the body of Shoaib.

The two suspects were taken into custody and interrogated. Police informed that they confessed to the crime and led the investigators to the place where Shoaib's body was retrieved from the drain.