Day: September 18, 2007

KARACHI, Sept 17: The murder mystery of a newly-married couple, graduates of the NED university, has further deepened as police, earlier relying on the results of the much-awaited chemical report, have yet to formally charge any of the suspects in the case.

The chemical report, issued on Sept 13, confirmed that both Muhammad Azeem and Beenish were poisoned to death. They had been found dead the next morning of their wedding night in mysterious circumstances in their North Nazimabad apartment on Aug 11.

The report indicates traces of zinc phosphate in the couple’s viscera. The difference in the time of the death of the bride from that of the groom may be due to the possibility that they might have been administered the poison at different occasions or due to the body resistance of Azeem, who died at around 10am whereas Beenish died at around 6am.

Separately, the groom’s father, Abdul Majeed, the bride’s maternal uncle, Razzak, and the couple’s close friend, Samad ,have been interrogated by police at length, but none of them broke down or made a confession, a senior police officer said.

“We are looking for a piece of evidence or at least a testimony to the crime or an eyewitness account. Without these prerequisites, police are reluctant to formally arrest any of the suspects,” remarked the police officer.

Police have been of the opinion that the killings were an inside job, someone close to the family or a family member could be behind the murder.

However, the findings of the nasal and jaw fractures on Beenish during the postmortem examination are yet to be explained in the ongoing investigation and also suggest that a scuffle had also taken place, the police officer remarked.

Source: Dawn

Date:9/18/2007

PESHAWAR, Sept 17: Peshawar High Court Chief Justice Tariq Pervez Khan on Monday directed police to arrest a man charged with killing his wife.

The chief justice ordered the Faqirabad SHO to take steps for the safety of three children of the slain woman as they had been facing threat from their step-father.

Justice Tariq Pervez also summoned the section officer of the education department directing him to appear on the next hearing and inform the court what step they had taken in this regard as the accused was an employee of the department.

The chief justice had taken suo motu notice of the killing of a schoolteacher, Azra Naheed, allegedly by her second husband Wisal Shah, a resident of Charssada district.He had summoned the SHOs of Faqirabad police station in Peshawar and Prang police station in Charssada. Both the SHOs appeared before the court on Monday.The court inquired from them why they had not arrested the accused despite the passage of about three months after the incident.

They informed that they had raided various places for the arrest of the accused.They said that they had now approached the education department and requested it to suspend the accused and stop his salary. The chief justice had taken notice of the issue over a feature that appeared in an Urdu daily on September 2.Ms Naheed was allegedly killed by Wisal Shah on June 23 in the jurisdiction of Faqirabad police station.The woman had three children with her first husband, namely Samiullah, Zeeshan and Komal. The children alleged that they had now been threatened by the accused.

They claimed that he had been asking them to enter into compromise with him otherwise they would be killed.The woman was previously married to Zahid Iqbal, a resident of Charssada. Few years back Mr Iqbal died of cardiac arrest.Later, her family members persuaded her to marry the accused.He was already married and was having six children.Initially, after their marriage they were living happily but their relations turned sour over the pension money of her previous husband.Finally, she left his residence along with her children and also got herself transferred to a school in Peshawar from Charssada.She had also filed a suit in the family court for dissolution of her marriage.

On the day of occurrence the accused allegedly stopped her while she was returning back home from the school.Witnesses claimed that he was trying to take her away and on her resistance he fired at her resulting in her death.

Source: Dawn

Date:9/18/2007

MUZAFFARGARH, Sept 18: The Sanawan police arrested on Tuesday a man who threw acid on his wife on Sept 2.

Muhammad Ajmal was wanted in the case of hurting Irshad Bibi through acid attack. The woman’s father got registered a case against Ajmal.

Irshad Bibi was operated upon at the clinic of a non-government organisation in Islamabad. Talking to Dawn on telephone, she said she was recovering after the doctors had given her a new lease of life.

Source: Dawn

Date:9/19/2007