KARACHI: Sindh Home Department has given the go-ahead to police to recover teenage girl Dua Zehra.

Upon receiving the order, police departed for Lahore to obtain custody of the girl. She will be brought back to Karachi after receiving permission from the Punjab Home Department.

The case took a new turn when the police investigating officer changed his stance after fresh investigation into the matter and said the girl was a victim of kidnapping and child marriage.

On Saturday, police informed a sessions court that 24 persons, including alleged husband Zaheer Ahmed, was involved in abducting Dua Zehra from Karachi and shifting her to Punjab.

The investigating officer, DSP Shaukat Ali Shahani, submitted a progress report before Additional District and Sessions Judge (East). The court was hearing a plea to replace the investigating officer in the case.

He stated that in the light of the directives issued by the Supreme Court and the trial court a medical board conducted an age estimation test, which found Dua to be aged between 15 and 16 years.

He said the statements of witnesses and the call data record (CDR) of the cell phone of suspect Zaheer was analysed which proved his presence in Karachi on the day when Dua Zehra went missing.

He said suspects cleric Hafiz Ghulam Mustafa who solemnized the marriage, Asghar Ali and Zaheer Ahmed and 21 absconding relatives had been found involved in committing the offence of kidnapping and solemnising child marriage.

He claimed that after the investigation of the case was entrusted to him on May 30, the Punjab police informed him of recovering Dua and Zaheer from Chishtian.

The young couple was produced before the Sindh High Court on June 8, where the girl testified that she was an adult and solemnised freewill marriage with Zaheer.

The presiding judge fixed the matter on July 19 for comments by police authorities on the plea seeking change of the investigating officer. The kidnapping and child marriage case is fixed before a judicial magistrate on July 20.

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