FIR in murder case of Canadian woman registered

F.P. Report

ISLAMABAD: The Islamabad police have registered a first information report (FIR) at the Chak Shahzad police station in the murder case of senior journalist Ayaz Amir’s daughter-in-law, it emerged on Saturday. On Friday, the police arrested Amir’s son, identified as Shahnawaz, for allegedly killing his wife Sara Inam, 37, a day after she arrived from Dubai — where she had been working.

The incident took place at a farmhouse located in Shahzad Town where the suspect lived along with his mother. The FIR was registered under Section 302 (punishment for murder) of the Pakistan Penal Code (PPC) on the complaint of Station House Officer (SHO) Nawazish Ali Khan.

The complaint stated that on September 23, the suspect’s mother Samina Shah called the police and informed them that Shahnawaz had murdered his wife “with a dumbbell”. “My son is present in the house and has hidden the body,” the FIR quoted Shah as saying, adding that the police subsequently raided the house.

“He had locked himself up in his room. When they broke inside, there were stains of blood stains on Shahnawaz’s hands and clothes,” the police said in the complaint. “He then confessed that he had repeatedly hit his wife with a dumbbell during an argument and then hid her body in the washroom’s bathtub.” According to the FIR, Shahnawaz also said he had “hidden” the murder weapon under his bed.

Upon examining the dumbbell, the police found blood and hair on it. “We have sent it for forensics,” the FIR added. The complaint further stated that the victim’s body had been sent to the Polyclinic Hospital for a postmortem examination.

Earlier, former deputy superintendent (DSP) prosecution of the capital police, Azhar Shah, told Dawn that the police got an autopsy conducted on the body before the registration of an FIR or receipt of a complaint about the incident, which was a violation of the Police Rule’s chapter 26.

He said if a family member was not available in such a case, the police itself could become a complainant on behalf of the state. The autopsy can be conducted after registration of the FIR, he added.

Meanwhile, the police said the Canadian High Commission was being approached to collect details of the parents of the deceased, who lived in Canada. However, the autopsy was conducted on the body and samples were taken for forensics, chemical and other tests to establish the cause of death, the police said. Besides the head, marks of injury were also found on other parts of the body. (INP)