Three suspects were arrested on Monday for an alleged honour killing in the Bataira area of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa’s Kolai Pallas district, according to the police.

Kolai Pallas Sub-divisional police officer (SDPO) Abdul Raoof had told Dawn.com a day ago that a youth was killed “for honour” on Friday night, allegedly due to his brother who had eloped with a girl, a family member of the suspects, a year ago.

SDPO Raoof had said since the girl and the older brother of the deceased were missing, the girl’s family had allegedly opted to kill Matiur Rehman.

Rauf told Dawn.com today that the police arrested three suspects, the father of the prime suspect and his two cousins, adding that they had helped plan the murder.

A first information report (FIR), a copy of which is available with Dawn.com, was lodged on the complaint of the deceased’s uncle Attaur Rehman on April 19 under Section 109 (abetment) and 302 (intentional murder) of the Pakistan Penal Code.

The uncle said that Rehman, mentioned as around 18 or 19 in the FIR, was returning to his home in Bataira from his shop in Bisham, Shangla, in the late evening on Friday when an armed man lying in wait opened fire and killed the youth on the spot.

He said the motive behind the murder was to retrieve the girl who had eloped with the elder brother.

The body was taken to the Bisham Tehsil Headquarters Hospital and later handed over to relatives, according to the FIR and the SDPO.

The uncle told Dawn.com today that the main suspect was initially hiding at his own uncle’s home but had since fled and was at large.

He said his nephew was innocent and the family wanted justice for his death and the immediate arrest of the culprits.

He said the girl had married his older nephew of her own free will and the family had held several rounds of jirgas to resolve the issue but no agreement was reached and the other party killed his younger nephew.

It stated that the motive behind the murder was the girl’s elopement with the victim’s brother and added that the victim was shot dead when returning to his home in Bataira. The gunmen had been waiting for him, Munim alleged.

Mati’s body was shifted to Tehsil Headquarters Hospital Bisham and later handed over to his heirs.

SDPO Abdul Rauf said the accused remained at large, but police are conducting raids in the area to arrest them.