SUKKUR: The Khairpur police, investigating a mystery shrouding the death of 13 members of a family in Haibat Brohi village, finally arrested a woman and her lover for poisoning them on Aug 19.

Nine members of the family had died soon after they had fallen ill after eating food at home and were rushed to a hospital, where four others also died during treatment on the following days.

Addressing a press conference along with SHOs Talib Junejo and Razia Shar of the Baradi Jatoi and women police stations on Sunday, Gambat DSP Malheer Khan said that the incident was reported at the police station on Aug 19 and some mysterious disease or food poisoning was believed to be the cause of their death. However, he added, police had started an investigation from different angles on the directives of Khairpur SSP Samiullah Soomro, who had also formed a team of expert investigators.

The DSP said that the police obtained the postmortem reports of two bodies and worked on it to establish the kind of poisonous material that led to the big tragedy.

The investigators reached the conclusion that the poison was mixed in the food consumed by the victims. They started interrogating Shaista Brohi, one of the surviving members of the joint family living in a single residential unit, the DSP said.

Finding it impossible to hide facts any more during the repeated intense grilling, she finally broke and confessed to have mixed “a liquid in the food served to the family with intention to make them agree on my freewill marriage by this way”. She said the liquid was given to her by her lover, Amir Bakhsh Brohi.

The DSP said that Shaista loved Amir Bakhsh but her family was not agreeing to the proposal. She said that one day, Amir gave her a liquid material and asked her to mix it in the food, assuring her that after eating the food, her family would agree to the proposal and then they would be able to get married.

A video clip uploaded ostensibly by Shaista on the social media also showed her making such a statement.

The DSP said that Shaista and Amir Bakhsh were arrested after registration of a case against them vide crime No. 13/2024 at the Baradi Jatoi police station.

Both the suspects had confessed to have committed the crime, the police officer claimed.

Those who died after consuming the food included Gul Baig, his wife Ms Gulzadi; their three sons, Manzoor Hussain, Dibar and Dildar; and four daughters, Khatoon, Samina, Hajiani and Mariam; as well as immediate relations Asghar, Mohammad Bakhsh and Shehzado.

Published in Dawn, October 7th, 2024