MARDAN: A female singer was shot dead by three men inside her house in Sheikh Maltoon Township here on Saturday after she refused to go with them to perform in a music function.

Ameer Bahadar, grandfather of the singer, Sunbal, told the police that he along with the victim and other family members was present in the house when three accused identified as Naeem Khattak, Jehangir Khan and Naseeb Khan, forcibly entered there.

He said the accused asked Sunbal to go with them for a music function but she refused which infuriated the intruders who opened fire and critically injured her. The attackers escaped the area.

The injured singer succumbed to her injuries before reaching the nearby Mardan Medical Complex. The body was handed over to the family after postmortem.

The Sheikh Maltoon police registered the case on the complaint of Ameer Bahadar against the three accused and started investigation.

Sources said one of the accused, Naeem, was a former employee of police department, while the other, Jehangir, was the former husband of slain Pashto singer Ghazala Javed.

Jehangir was handed down death sentence on two counts and Rs70 million fine by the Swat district and sessions judge in Dec 2013 in the killing case of Ghazala and her father Javed Khan. However, he was acquitted by the Peshawar High Court in May 2014 after he reached a compromise with Ghazala’s family.

Published in Dawn, February 4th, 2018