PESHAWAR: A local court on Monday remanded a man suspected of killing his sister-in-law to three-day police custody.

Samiullah was arrested on Sunday night on charges of murdering his sister-in-law, Sumera, 25, on Sept 14, for refusing to marry his brother.

Sumera’s decomposed body was found from Jani Khawar area of Badhbher on Sept 16, sparking a protest in the area.

The police presented the suspect before judicial magistrate Sanaullah, seeking his physical custody for further investigation into the case.

On Friday, residents of Badhbher had closed the Kohat Road for several hours in protest against the murder, and demanded arrest of the killer(s) after the body was found.

Separately, addressing a press conference at the Malik Saad Shaheed Police Lines, SSP operations Kashif Aftab Abbasi said that the suspect wanted his sister-in-law to marry his younger brother, Hamza Khan. However, the woman rejected the proposal, he said, adding the man murdered her to avenge the refusal.

Mr Abbasi said that the suspect had picked up the woman from a seminary, where she taught, and taken her to Jani Khawar, where he opened fire on her, and later strangulated her. Besides, he said that the suspect had also tortured the woman.

DSP Abbasi said that the suspect was identified from the CCTV footage picking up the woman from her madrassah. The vehicle was borrowed by him from another local on the pretext of taking family members to somewhere.

He said the police also used geo-fencing to arrest the suspect.

He said that the man had hidden the body in the bushes in a deserted area, which was discovered about two days later.

SSP Abbasi said that the slain seminary teacher was engaged to someone else about a few days ago.

Published in Dawn, September 20th, 2022