Police sources confirmed suspect Imran Ali, 23, a neighbour of Zainab, had confessed to his crime before an investigation team.
They said Ali had been taken into custody over two weeks ago but was let to go on the Zainab familys interference 'claiming that he could not be a culprit'.
Punjab government spokesman Malik Ahmad told PTI that Ali had confessed to his crime but it would be confirmed whether he is the culprit or not after a DNA test.
On January 5, Zainab had gone missing while going to a religious tuition centre near her house in Kasur city, some 50-km from Lahore. Her parents had been in Saudi Arabia to perform Umrah and she had been living with her maternal aunt.
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On January 9, her body was recovered from a heap of trash near the Shahbaz Khan Road. Autopsy report had confirmed rape.
Violent protests gripped the Kasur city following Zainabs murder that claimed two lives. The Zainab incident also stirred a national outcry demanding justice for her.
Last year, 4,139 incidents of child abuse took place in the province where 43 per cent of them were acquainted with perpetrators.
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