GUJRAT: A husband turned out to be the mastermind of the murder of his wife by a hired assassin, who not only subjected the woman to rape before killing her, but also murdered her three-year-old daughter during the crime.

The horrific crime was committed in Rehmat Pura locality in Garjakh police precincts in Gujranwala.

The police claimed to have traced and arrested the suspects allegedly involved in the double murder and rape within 24 hours of the incident.

Gujranwala City Police Officer (CPO) Dr Ghias Gul told reporters at a presser on Wednesday that a woman, Nida and her three-year-old daughter, Dur-i-Adan, were found murdered at their house on Monday the last.

The hitman also raped victim and killed couple’s three-year-old daughter

On being called, a police team arrived at the spot and collected evidence from the crime scene.

The police registered the case and a special team was constituted under city SP Hina Nek Bakhat and two other senior officials to investigate the matter and trace and arrest the killer(s).

The CPO said that during the investigation, on suspicion, the police detained one Yasir, a neighbour of the victims, who, when interrogated, confessed to have killed the woman on the direction of her husband, Ghulam Mustafa. He also confessed killing the minor girl as she had witnessed her after he murdered her mother.

The suspect said Mustafa had promised to give him Rs250,000 and two pieces of gold jewellery as a reward for killing his wife, because he wanted to contract second marriage after her elimination.

The suspect told the investigators that he had also raped the woman before killing her with a knife. He said that the minor girl’s murder was not part of the deal, but he had to kill her too as she woke up and spotted him when he was leaving the house.

The CPO said that the police also arrested the victim’s husband, Ghulam Mustafa, who too confessed to have hatched the murder plan.

He said the knife used in the crime, the gold jewellery and the amount given to the suspect in advance have also been recovered. He added that the suspect had already sold the jewellery, that was recovered from the goldsmith who had purchased it.

Published in Dawn, April 30th, 2026