DADU: Sindh High Court Chief Justice Ahmed Ali M. Shaikh on Monday took notice of the reported suicide by a woman MBBS student, Asmat Rajput, in Sita Road town of Dadu district a couple of days back.

The CJ has ordered Hyderabad DIG Syed Pir Mohammad Shah and Dadu SSP Aijaz Ahmed Shaikh to appear in person before him on Thursday (Jan 13) along with a complete relevant report.

Ms Rajput had allegedly committed suicide at her home after, what the bereaved family told police, giving in to frequent demands for money by two blackmailers, Shaman Solangi and his son, Faiz Solangi. Her father, Khalid Jameel Rajput, stated in his FIR that she had narrated her ordeal a couple of days before she took the extreme action.

He said she had been paying different amounts of money to the “blackmailers” and had recently deposited an amount of Rs90,000 in Shaman’s account. According to him, he had already lodged an FIR against Shaman and Faiz at the Sita Road police station. He stated that the suspects had prepared a fake nikahnama to blackmail his daughter.

Read more: MBBS student commits suicide over blackmail in Dadu

Asmat Rajput, an MBBS fourth-year student of the Peoples University of Medical and Health Sciences for Women, Nawabshah, was found shot dead in her home located in Ward-5 of Sita Road town on Saturday (Jan 8).

Citing circumstantial evidence and information from hospital sources, the police said it was a clear case of suicide. They also found a ‘suicide note’ purportedly written by her for her father. They took in custody the woman’s diary, laptop and mobile phone, during a search of the house, for a forensic examination.

Meanwhile, another FIR of the incident was registered at the Sita Road police station on Monday against Shaman, his wife Naeema Solangi and two unknown suspects on the complaint of Ms Rajput’s brother, Nadir Ali. While Shaman and Faiz remained at large so far, the police picked up Naeema Solangi apparently on strong suspicion of her involvement in the alleged blackmail.

Nadir Ali stated in his FIR that Shaman along with his wife and two unknown suspects had visited their [Rajputs’] house on Jan 8 to pressure the family to hand over Asmat Rajput to them arguing that she had contracted a marriage with him [Shaman].

The complainant stated that the nikahnama produced to his family was fake.

Speaking to this reporter, Dadu SSP Aijaz Ahmed Shaikh said police had found evidence of money transactions between Ms Rajput and Shaman, besides involvement of Naeema in the criminal act.

A record of blackmail by the suspected couple was found in Ms Rajput’s laptop data, he said.

Also on Monday, the Sita Road police produced Naeema and Maulvi Idrees in the court of the second civil judge of Johi at Dadu and obtained their two-day remand.

Meanwhile, a post-mortem examination report issued by Dr Rozeena of the Sita Road rural health centre confirmed the cause of Ms Rajput’s death as suicide. There were no marks of violence on the body, the report suggested.

Published in Dawn, January 11th, 2022