RAWALPINDI: A woman whose body was found on the bank of a nullah in Gora Rajghan Rawat area on Wednesday has been identified as a schoolteacher who went missing in December last year.

Police have detained the husband of the woman and another individual and hoped that the mystery behind the crime will be solved within the next 48 hours.

The woman, who had been missing since December 2024, was found lying on the bank of a nullah in Rawat on Wednesday. Initially, her death seems to have happened due to strangulation and head injury, however, her body was shifted to the District Headquarters Hospital for postmortem.

According to police sources, the woman was identified by her daughter as Qudsia Batool who was a schoolteacher. Since her body was decomposed, her young daughter and other heirs identified her from her finger and other parts.

The deceased woman’s brother had already filed a complaint with Rawat police regarding his sister’s disappearance in December and accused her husband.

According to police sources, the woman’s body was tied with a heavy stone and thrown into the nullah to hide the crime; however, the body surfaced on the bank of the nullah which led to her recovery.

Qudsia Batool’s husband Mohammad Amin lodged an FIR with the police on December 8, 2024 saying that he had been married to his wife for 17 years and was blessed with a daughter. He said that his wife had been serving as a schoolteacher in a private school for the last 18 years. On December 5, he and his wife left for Darbar Kalyam Sharif on their motorcycle. On return he said that his wife insisted that she would go to her mother’s house, therefore, he dropped her off at a local transport stand.

He said afterwards he tried to contact his wife on her mobile phone but found it switched off. He claimed that his wife was also having money and gold jewellery when she went missing. After failing to find her clue, he lodged an FIR with the police for kidnapping.

Published in Dawn, March 8th, 2025