PESHAWAR: The local police on Tuesday announced they had arrested two family members over the killing of three women.

Three badly burned bodies were recovered from Chandmari area of Tehkal on Oct 17. The deceased were later identified as women.

Accompanied by SP cantonment circle Imran Ahmad Malik, city police chief Mohammad Tahir Khan told reporters at the Malik Saad Police Lines here that the local police were tipped off about the presence of charred bodies in Chandmari area before they collected them and began investigation to trace culprits.

He said after murder, the women were burned with the help of petrol to eliminate signs revealing their identities.

“It was no less than a huge challenge for us to identity women and arrest those behind their murder,” he said.

Mr. Tahir said following the leads provided by informers and cellphone records, the police arrested two of the five suspects, including Azizulllah and Pir Mohammad.

He said during initial investigation, the suspects had confessed to involvement in the killing.

The police chief said the investigation identified the women as Peshawar’s Husn Bano, wife of Afghan national Ghulam Mohammad, and her daughters, including Ayesha and Shireena.

He said Ghulam Mohammad had moved to Kabul few months ago along with wife and daughters and lived there in a rented house.

Mr. Tahir said the women were not happy living in Kabul so they Family members held over three women’s killing returned to Peshawar without informing Ghulam Mohammad.

He claimed Husn Bano was involved in drug smuggling and that a first information report was registered against her.

The police chief said Ghulam Mohammad, the prime suspect in the case, was not happy with wife and daughters for secretly leaving Afghanistan and therefore, he’d planned their killing.

He said the main suspect along with brothers Pir Mohammad and Azizullah strangulated the three women in their Chandmari house on Oct 17, took the bodies to a nearby open place in a private car and set them on fire with the help of four liters petrol purchased from a local filling station.

The police chief said the car used to transport bodies had been seized.

He said the main suspect Ghulam Mohammad later fled to Afghanistan via Torkham border but the police managed to arrest his brothers and accomplices, Pir Mohammad and Azizullah.

Mr. Tahir said the police were going all-out for the arrest of three other suspects.

He said the police had planned to take up the matter of the arrest and extradition of the main suspect in the case with the Afghan authorities.

The police chief said for the confirmation of Husn Bano’s identity, the police would match her DNA with her brothers’.

Published in Dawn October 26th, 2016