LAHORE: Multan police on Saturday arrested Ali Raza, the husband of Syeda Sania Zehra who was allegedly tortured to death by him 9. Zehra was found hanged to death in her house on July 9 and her parents took her body and buried it, thinking their daughter had committed suicide. Later, Zehra’s father Syed Asad Abbas Shah approached the New Multan Police Station and lodged a murder case against his son-in-law Ali Raza (main suspect), his parents, Jeevan Shah and Azra Bibi, brother Ali Haider, sister-in-law Syeda Dua and sister Kanwal Bibi. The case was registered under sections 302 (murder), 148 (rioting armed with a deadly weapon) and 149 (unlawful assembly) of the PPC. Deceased’s husband holds presser before surrender, denies murder charge On Saturday afternoon, Zehra’s husband Ali Raza approached Multan Press Club to hold a press conference. He insisted that his wife had committed suicide and his in-laws were leveling baseless murder charges against him and his family.
He said his father-in-law was involved in blackmailing his family. He said his wife’s brother had committed suicide and her mother had also attempted suicide three to four times. About the night of the incident, Ali Raza said he and his wife had exchanged harsh words on July 8 and he left the room and slept in another room. But the next morning when he knocked on the door, she did not open. “I broke the lock and entered the room and found her hanging from the ceiling fan,” Ali Raza claimed. He said the police had raided his sister’s house and broke everything there. “I am here to surrender even after securing pre-arrest bail,” he said. Later, a police team approached the press club and took Ali Raza into custody. On July 14, the police exhumed Zehra’s body on court orders to conduct a post-mortem.
The autopsy report stated that the ligature mark on her neck was consistent with hanging and the cause of death was asphyxia due to hanging. It also stated that the hyoid bone was intact and there were no visible signs of injury or violence. The samples from the stomach, liver and spleen had been sent to the Punjab Forensic Science Agency (PFSA) for further analysis. The report confirms that the woman was not pregnant at the time of her death. A senior police official, on condition of anonymity, told Dawn six people were nominated in the case and they secured pre-arrest bail till July 26. He said that they were waiting for a forensic report to check whether the victim was poisoned or forcibly hanged or not. The officer said the post-mortem did not show any sign of resistance but they had sent the dupatta and matter collected from her nails for DNA report.
(Daily Dawn)
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