HARIPUR: A newly-married couple was found murdered in Mang village of Khanpur tehsil here on Friday, the police said.

The police believed the couple was killed for honour somewhere else and their bodies were dumped in the limits of Kotnajibullah police station.

DSP Khanpur Jamilur Rehman told Dawn that the locals informed the police after spotting the bodies of a young girl and a man lying in the causeway of Mohallah Pir Abad of Mang village. He said the police shifted the bodies to Kotnajibullah Rural Health Centre for autopsy. According to preliminary medical examination, the couple was strangulated after being subjected to torture.

DSP Rehman said that the police had also recovered a shopping bag carrying some belongings of the couple that was lying near the bodies.

He said two identity cards and a nikahnama were recovered from the shopper, and as per the contents of nikahnama, the girl and the man, 21, were the residents of Mornagsair village of Shangla district. Their present address registered in the nikahnama was Afandi Colony, Rawalpindi.

The police officer said that the entries of the nikahnama suggested the couple married on October 11, 2022 in the Afandi Colony. He said the circumstantial evidence showed the girl had eloped with the young man and got married without the consent of her family.

However, he said the family of the slain man had been traced and informed about the incident, adding his brothers told the police that they were on way to receive the bodies and nominate the suspects in the FIR.

A case was, however, registered against unknown assailants on the complaint of SHO Kotnajibullah.

Published in Dawn, November 12th, 2022