September 19, 2008	Friday	Ramazan 18, 1429

KARACHI, Sept 18: A 40-year-old man was arrested in Landhi on Thursday for allegedly killing his wife.

Police said the suspect, Rashid, tortured and strangled his 38-year-old wife, Rehana, at his house in a shantytown near Ajmer Ground, Sector 35-B, Landhi.

They said the suspect brought the body to the Jinnah Postgraduate Medical Centre and told the police that his wife had committed suicide.

However, the police said, the victim’s parents alleged that Rashid had killed Rehana, mother of two.

The police said the suspect was arrested and he confessed to having killed the woman. They said the suspect also disclosed that he had earlier burnt the victim in his attempt to kill her.

A postmortem report has been reserved.

Rashid has been booked under FIR 203/08 under Section 302 of the Pakistan Penal Code.

‘Husband’s killer’

The 38-year-old mason whose body was exhumed on Wednesday was stated to be strangled with a drawstring allegedly by his wife and her three accomplices, police claimed on Thursday.

They said the suspects had also given the victim a heavy dose of tranquilisers before they strangled him and buried him beside his house at Abdul Karim Goth, a shantytown in the limits of Surjani police station.

The police said the final postmortem report was reserved till the receipt of a chemical examination report of the viscera. They said the initial medical examination of the corpse suggested that the man was strangled with the drawstring, which was also seized.

Mohammed Jameel, father of three sons, was allegedly killed by his wife, Shabana, and her three accomplices — Rashid, Shabbir and Nisar Khan alias Nasir Khan.Investigation officer Sub-inspector Abid Shah told Dawn that Rashid and Shabbir were brothers and related to Shabana, who hailed from Rahimyar Khan.

The IO said the woman sent her eldest son, aged 11 years, to a relative’s house in the locality for an overnight stay, while her two younger sons, aged five and six years, were at home when the victim was killed.

He said the suspects kept the body at the house for a day and later they buried the victim beside the house.

SI Shah said Shabana then contacted the victim’s father, Ghulam Shabbir, in Rahimyar Khan and told him that Jameel was missing.

He said Ghulam Shabbir arrived in Karachi the next day and mounted a search for his son. “The victim’s father visited some places along with his daughter-in-law and finally he concluded that she was involved in his son’s going missing,” he added.

The IO said that Shabana and Rashid were arrested on Sept 13 after Ghulam Shabbir lodged an FIR against them.

He said the suspects broke down during preliminary interrogation and disclosed the place where they had buried the victim. Shabbir and Nisar were arrested on Sept 14, he said.