A young woman was allegedly shot dead by her bother for “honour” in Phase VI of Karachi’s Defence Housing Authority (DHA) on Sunday, the police said.

A spokesperson of Chhipa Welfare Organisation told Dawn.com that the incident occurred in the early hours of Sunday. He said that the body was later moved to the Jinnah Postgraduate Medical Centre to fulfil legal formalities.

Police surgeon Dr Summaiya Syed said that the young woman suffered two bullet wounds on her head and leg. There was extensive damage seen in her cranial vault, she stated.

According to Senior Superintendent of Police (South) Syed Asad Raza, the initial inquiry revealed that the victim was shot dead by her brother.

He told Dawn.com that the suspect had “confessed” to killing his sister for “honour” during interrogation by the police.

During the initial probe, the suspect claimed that on Saturday night, he was present at his home at around 2am. He was cleaning his licenced 9mm pistol in the yard of the house while his sister was “coming from the kitchen side”.

“During cleaning, the pistol was accidentally fired and the bullet hit the waist of my sister, injuring her,” the police quoted the brother as having told them initially.

“She was shifted to a hospital for medical treatment but she succumbed to her injury during treatment,” as per the statement of the brother.

However, SSP Raza said that the police findings suggested that the girl had been gunned down by her brother. The senior officer categorically stated that it was not an “accidental fire”.

The suspect was placed under custody and interrogated, after which he “spilled the beans and confessed the crime,” the official stated.

The suspect told the police that his sister had “illicit relations” with a person because of whom he shot her, added the officer

Raza said that none of the family members were willing to lodge the first information report. Therefore, it has been decided that the murder case would be registered against the held suspect on behalf of the state, he added.

Pregnant women shot dead

Separately, the police said a pregnant woman was shot dead in Karachi’s Gulshan-i-Ghazi locality on Sunday morning.

Ittehad Town police said that the victim, 30, was shot and killed by her brother-in-law due to a “personal dispute” in Hazara Colony.

The suspect has been arrested along with the pistol, the police said, adding that the body was shifted to Dr Ruth Pfau Civil Hospital, Karachi, to fulfil legal formalities.

The police surgeon said that the victim was pregnant.

She suffered two bullet wounds on her abdomen, one bullet was retrieved while the second could not be traced. She received two bullet injuries on her both hands too as she probably tried to save her baby, opined the surgeon.