BAHAWALNAGAR: The district police claimed to have solved a blind murder case of a young trader who was gunned down four days ago by unknown assailants while returning home in Haroonabad.

According to the City police, 24-year-old Talha Naeem of Tibba Noorpur village, who used to run a crockery store on the Imambargah Road in Haroonabad, was riding his bike home on the night of April 21 at approximately 10pm when he was shot and killed by unknown assailants.

Due to the presence of a suspicious masked woman on the CCTV footage near the crime scene, the police registered a murder case against two unnamed suspects, including the woman, on the complaint of victim’s brother Waseem Naeem and launched an investigation.

Requesting anonymity, a senior police official toldDawnthat initially it appeared to be a case of blind murder, with no one including the family, knowing who killed the man and why. However, when the police used the deceased’s thumb imprint to unlock his phone and searched its data, they discovered that his last chat was with a girl named Areeb of Shahkot town in Nankana Sahib.

According to the official, when the Haroonabad police team took into custody Areeba (23) from her residence on suspicion and interrogated her, she revealed that she was an MPhil student at the Government College University Faisalabad. Areeba informed the cops that roughly two years ago, Talha befriended her through her Instagram account, which eventually blossomed into love. During this time, they exchanged phone numbers and began meeting in discrete areas around Faisalabad. She claimed Talha not only had physical relations with her and promised to marry her, but he also began blackmailing her by recording these interactions. Later, she claimed that Talha broke his promise to marry her and began blackmailing her with her obscene videos and occasionally inviting her to Haroonabad. Whenever she declined to meet with him, he threatened to post her clips on social media and send them to her family.

While confessing to the crime, Areeba told the police that on April 21, Talha once again pushed her to come to Haroonabad, where she requested Talha to stop following her. Despite her pleadings, Talha continued to blackmail her and refused to delete her inappropriate videos, so she shot him dead with her father’s revolver and fled the scene.

Police spokesperson Zahid Rasool said that the murder weapon had been recovered from the accused, while investigations were still ongoing into the possibility of another person being present with the accused during the murder.

Published in Dawn, April 27th, 2026