Double-murder case 'resolved': Shrine caretaker turns out to be killer, rapist.

CHINIOT -- A man who took care of a shrine turned out to be 'killer' of a 'devotee' and a minor boy, whom he also raped before strangling him to death, say police.

City police have arrested Arslan Malang, who lived at Darbar (shrine) Sain Malan Shah, situated in Mohallah Moazzam Shah, on charges of double murder and rape.

Chiniot City Circle Deputy Superintendent of Police (DSP) Nasir Abbas told the media that a devotee -- Umar Farooq (30) and a minor boy Awais (7) -- were found murdered some two weeks ago at the shrine of Sain Malan Shah.

He said as per the postmortem examination, Farooq was axed to death, while the boy was strangled.

The city police registered the case and started investigations.

During investigations, the DSP said, the police suspected that Arsalan Malang, who took care of the shrine, was involved in the murders and took him into custody.

During interrogation, Arslan confessed that he was raping the minor boy, when Umar Farooq saw him and tried to raised an alarm.

He said to conceal his crime, he first axed Farooq to death and then strangled minor Awais.

The police formally arrested the suspect and recovered the axe used in the murder of Farooq.

There are dozens of unregistered shrines in the district which have become crime dens and been taken over by criminals involved in drugs sale and other anti-social activities.

Shahid Yaqoob, Secretary General of the District Bar Association urged the district administration and police to either keep a check on such unregistered shrines, or give their charge to Auqaf department to...