The man accused of murdering seven-year-old Zainab Ansari lured his victims by promising to buy them sweets and hair clips.

Zainab was kidnapped from near her aunt’s house on January 4 and her body was discovered a a rubbish tip heap five days later.

On Tuesday, Punjab Chief Minister Shehbaz Sharif confirmed that Imran Ali murdered Zainab, referring to him as a “serial killer”.

It has been revealed Imran revealed during interrogation that he kidnapped Zainab at 6:45pm.

Geo News reports a JIT official saying, “When he couldn’t find an appropriate place [to rape her], he roamed around with her for over 1.5 kilometres and took her to a pile of garbage as he feared being caught if he went to a residential area.”

It is believed he kidnapped girls from houses where he was employed. He allegedly confessed to raping eight girls in under-construction houses and two on rubbish piles.

According to BBC Urdu two buttons on either shoulder of Zainab's murderer's jacket were a significant clue that helped the police to catch him.

According to BBC Urdu, an officer on the case shared the details of how the police went through the investigation process with them.

During a raid on the suspects house, police found a jacket with large buttons on both shoulders, similar to the one the rapist was seen wearing in the CCTV footage released soon after the kidnapping.

It is believed Imran's mother and paternal uncle said they were suspicious when they first saw the CCTV footage on TV and thought the man in the video looked like Imran but they did not tell the police.