HYDERABAD: A man and his three close relatives were apprehended for allegedly killing his young recently-wed wife and her friend upon seeing the victims in an objectionable position in a house at a brick kiln near Tando Hyder in the early hours of Saturday.

SHO of the Pabban police station said that the axe used in the killing of Ghulam Shabbir Khoso, 25, son of Ghulam Mustafa Khoso, was seized from the suspects.

He said the woman, Saiqa Rasheed Khoso, 18, was strangled to death.

The police officer said that according to the preliminary investigation, Rasheed Ahmed Khoso, and his two brothers, Sadiq Khoso and Ishaq Khoso, along with their cousin, Saifullah, told the police that they found Ghulam Shabbir Khoso and Saiqa Khoso in a highly objectionable position.

It was stated that Rasheed Khoso grabbed his wife and strangled her to death in a fit of anger. The suspects also axed Ghulam Shabbir Khoso to death.

SHO Malik Hidayatullah said that the bodies were taken to the Liaquat University Hospital for a post-mortem examination and then handed over to the heirs.

He said all four suspects and the crime weapon were taken in custody. He said that suspects and Ghulam Khoso, labourers by profession, were related to each other.

He said Ghulam Khoso, a resident of Landhi village of Nawabshah (Shaheed Benazirabad district) was also a relative of the woman victim. He had come to the brick kiln house of the suspects on Friday on a routine visit, he added.

According to the police, Rasheed Khoso and Saiqa Khoso wedded some five months back and lived at the house owned by Haji Zareef Khan Pathan.

Meanwhile, Abdul Sami Khoso, the brother of Ghulam Shabbir Khoso, told the police that his slain brother had an altercation with Rasheed Khoso some time ago and this might be the motive for his murder. He said the suspects killed him and the woman on the pretext of Karo-kari (an old custom under which a person found indulging in an extramarital affair is liable to be killed by his/her close relatives or the affected family).

The SHO said that an FIR of the double-murder was yet to be registered.

‘Encounter’

The Hatri police have claimed to have gunned down a hardened criminal carrying a head-money of Rs1 million in an encounter with him and his associates at Sadique Leuna Housing Scheme in the early hours of Saturday.

Hyderabad SSP Irfan Ali Baloch told a press conference in his office that Ahmed Machhi, was wanted by police in over 50 cases of heinous crimes registered against him at various police stations.

Acting upon a tip-off about his presence in the area, a police team rushed to the specified spot and ordered Machhi and his gangsters to surrender themselves before the police, he said, adding that the gangsters responded with a heavy gunfire which was returned.

After the encounter, Ahmed Machhi, son of Mehmood Machhi, was found dead, the SSP claimed. He said Machhi’s two associates, Mohammad Ali Halepoto and Imdad Khokhar aka Fauji, managed to flee. A Kalashnikov and its bullets were seized from the deceased suspect, he said.Machhi was a resident of a village in the Shadi Khan area of Naushahro Feroze district, the police said.

‘Army to train new police force’

The SSP also told reporters that the Army would train an anti-terrorist force (ATF) comprising police personnel.

It would be a a ‘counter-terrorism’ force and was being raised by the police department, he said. In the first phase, the Army would provide a week-long anti-terror training to a batch of 60 policemen.

About a plan for security of private schools evolved in the wake of the Dec 16 carnage at the Army Public School in Peshawar, the SSP said he held a meeting with owners of several private schools and asked them to arrange for private security guards and ensure more than one or two entry/exit points at each school and provide training to their staff and students to meet any eventuality.

Published in Dawn, January 4th, 2015

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