Many people believe that serial killers write to the press due to a subconscious urge to be caught, but none have gone as far to prove this theory as Javed Iqbal, who actually turned himself in to the offices of a local newspaper.
Iqbal (who committed suicide in prison in 2001 shortly before he was to be executed by hanging) believed that the police would kill him if they caught him, and hoped that, by confessing to the gathered journalists, he would at least be guaranteed a fair trial.
In December 1999, Iqbal sent a letter to police and a local Lahore newspaper confessing to the murders of 100 boys, all aged between six and 16. In the letter, he claimed to have strangled and dismembered the victims – mostly runaways and orphans living on the streets of Lahore – and disposed of their bodies using vats of hydrochloric acid. He then dumped the remains in a local river.
In his house, police and reporters found bloodstains on the walls and floor with the chain on which Iqbal claimed to have strangled his victims, photographs of many of his victims in plastic bags. These items were neatly labeled with handwritten pamphlets. Two vats of acid with partially dissolved human remains were also left in the open for police to find, with a note claiming “the bodies in the house have deliberately not been disposed of so that authorities will find them.”
The biggest manhunt ever staged in Pakistan was soon underway, yet it was a month before Iqbal turned himself in at the offices of the Urdu-language newspaper Daily Jang on the 30th December, 1999. He was subsequently arrested. He stated that he had surrendered to the newspaper because he feared for his life and was concerned that the police would kill him.
Although his diary contained detailed descriptions of the murders, and despite the handwriting on the placards in his house matching Iqbal’s, he claimed in court that he was innocent and that the entire affair was an elaborate hoax to draw attention to the plight of runaway children from poor families. He claimed that his statements to police were made under duress. Over a hundred witnesses testified against Iqbal and he and his accomplices were found guilty
Although found guilty of the murder and sexual torture of 100 children, many believe Iqbal to be the victim of a police cover-up, as 26 of the children were found to be alive and well after his death.
There is little disputing that Iqbal was a prolific child murderer, but due to police corruption and tampered evidence, the extent of his killing will never be determined.
Red Ink Letters 