MARDAN, July 25: An accused charged with the killing of his wife with the support of his accomplices was remanded in police custody for three days by a local court on Monday. The 13 accomplices of the accused are still at large.The accused, Mohammad Saeed, was apprehended a day earlier by the officials of the concerned Rustam police station.

The accused had allegedly killed his wife, Shazia, in the name of honour on June 21 in Barioch Rustam area. The victim was first stoned and then fired at.

Shah Mumtaz Khan, the SHO of Rustam police station, told this correspondent that the accused was presented in the court of judicial magistrate Nasir Khan on Monday and his custody for seven days was sought, but the court only allowed three days of police custody.

He hoped that they would soon arrest the other accomplices of Mohammad Saeed.

The incident ignited public outrage with inhabitants of the area even set fire to the residence of the accused. The Provincial Commission on the Status of Women also condemned the incident and demanded arrest of all the culprits.

The postmortem of the victim was conducted in a nearby hospital which revealed that she had received most of the injuries on her head and face apart from other parts of her body.

Mohammad Saeed had sometime back also allegedly killed his real brother as he suspected he was having an affair with the victim. The victim had also received injuries in that occurrence following which she had left her husband's home and had started residing with her mother, Noor Jehan in Swat.

The 23-year old Shazia, a resident of Barikot in Swat, had entered into a love marriage with the accused around six months back. The police claimed the victim and her mother, Noor Jehan, were called to Rustam village by Saeed's family to settle the dispute peacefully.

The complainant in the case, Noor Jehan, claimed that when they visited the village, Saeed and dozens of his other relatives and friends dragged Shazia to the nearby hills where she was stoned and shot dead.

CM VISIT: The Chief Minister Ameer Haider Hoti is scheduled to visit Mardan city today (Tuesday) to inaugurate several developmental projects in different areas of the city.

The party and official sources said the chief minister would inaugurate the newly built river bridge near Younas Stadium and Rustam Kheil girls school. Besides he would also inaugurate work on a road.