KARACHI, Nov 16: A man who was booked and arrested for killing his 28-year-old wife on Thursday was given into police custody for interrogation for seven days by a judicial magistrate.

The investigation officer, Sub-Inspector Adnan Khan, told Dawn that Nizamuddin had confessed to having killed Aalia by pushing her off the balcony of their fourth floor apartment in Gulishtan-i-Jauhar after an altercation.

He said that the childless couple had been living in a rented flat (B-410-A) in Rado Centre for the past six years. He said that the victim’s parents also lived in the adjacent flat on a rental basis.

The 35-year-old suspect, an employee at the billing section of the Pakistan Telecommunication Company Ltd, allegedly killed his wife as he had plans for a second marriage.

Police said that the couple had married 10 years ago without the consent of Nizam’s family, who lived in Landhi. They said that the victim’s parents, originally hailing from Lahore, were living with their four daughters and two sons.

The suspect was booked and arrested on the complaint of the victim’s mother, Najam Ara, wife of Mohammed Riaz, who alleged that her son-in-law killed her daughter as he was having an extra-marital affair with a woman, Amna, whom he wanted to marry. Meanwhile, police investigators said that it would really be a very difficult task to find sufficient evidence against the suspect. They said that currently there was no eye-witness to the incident.

The investigators said that the watchman of the building and a vegetable vendor saw the woman falling down around 6am. They, however, said the two witnesses were yet to be interviewed by the police and it was not yet ascertained if they saw the suspect in the balcony when the woman fell down.

The investigators were of the view that if the motive behind the murder was established, it would definitely help the prosecution prepare a solid case. They said that efforts were being made to locate the woman who was having an affair with the suspect.