GUJRAT: Kharian Cantonment police on Wednesday booked a doctor and two others for alleged murder of a young woman working as a maid in their house, after the report of her Covid-19 test was found to be negative.

The suspects had claimed she had died of coronavirus on March 27.

Victim’s father Ghulam Yasin in his complaint lodged with Kharian Cantt police stated that his 20-year-old daughter Ramsha had been working in the house of Dr Ali Muqaddas and Jahanzaib Afzal in I J Colony, against Rs8.000 per month salary and that he had received her one-year salary in advance from her employers.

He said on March 27, he was informed by the employers that his daughter had died of coronavirus.

He said the employers barred him and his family from going near the dead body, saying that it could be dangerous for them as she had died of virus. The body was shifted to her native village in Bhalwal tehsil of Sargodha district, where she was buried in the local graveyard.

Yasin said he had suspicions about the sudden death of his daughter and that he had approached the Cantt police demanding investigation into it. But the police did not pay heed to him.

He accused the employers of killing his daughter demanding fair investigation into her death to bring the killers to book.

However, taking notice of the incident, Regional Police Officer Riaz Nazeer Gara ordered Kharian police to lodge a case against the suspects and conduct inquiry purely on merit.

On the RPOs orders, the police booked the suspects under section 302 of the Pakistan Penal Code (PPC) on Yasin’s complaint and started investigation.

An earlier report on the incident filed by Kharian Assistant Commissioner Faisal Mangat to Deputy Commissioner Dr Khurram Shahzad, said quoting the employers — Jahanzaib and Dr Ali — that their maid Ramsha had symptoms of coronavirus since March 24.

They claimed when Ramsha’s condition deteriorated they took her to a private clinic in Kharian on March 27, but there was no improvement in it.

Later, the suspects claimed, they shifted her to the Aziz Bhatti Shaheed Teaching Hospital (ABSTH) where doctors pronounced her dead. However, the doctors took samples from the dead body and sent the same to lab for tests.

The AC further stated in the report that the dead body was transported to the village by an ambulance arranged by the Cantonment board and the burial took place under the supervision of assistant commissioner concerned.

Published in Dawn, April 2nd, 2020