RAWALPINDI: The withdrawal of the murder case of anchorperson Rabia Ahsan has nothing to do with the police, as any compromise between the complainant and the suspect can only be decided by the trial court, a senior police officer has said.
Speaking to Dawn on condition of anonymity, the officer was responding to reports that the brother of the deceased anchorperson had decided to withdraw the murder case registered against her husband, claiming that her death was caused by an accidental shooting rather than a deliberate killing.
He said the police had completed their investigation, arrested the accused and recovered the weapon. It was now up to the trial court to decide whether to accept the complainant’s request for withdrawal of the case, if such a request was filed.
According to the initial police examination of Rabia’s body, she had sustained a gunshot wound below the neck. Her body was found lying on the floor of her bedroom. Police said the shot had not been fired from close range, as there were no blackening marks on her neck.
Police also said the weaponrecovered from Rabia’s husband was unlicensed, as he could not produce a licence for the pistol, which he had purchased from Hayatabad. The pistol was loaded when the suspect allegedly pointed it at his wife, police added.
As part of the investigation, police would also conduct a forensic examination of the couple’s mobile phones. The couple hadbeen married for 16 years and had two daughters.
According to police sources, the deceased’s brother was initially reluctant to register a murder case.
However, an FIR was later registered late at night with the Sadar Beruni police under Section 302 of the Pakistan Penal Code (PPC) and Section 13-2(a) of the Punjab Arms Amendment Ordinance 2015 for possession of an illegalweapon. The accused stated that he had fired the gun accidentally.
Senior Superintendent of Police (Investigation) Saifullah said police had arrested the suspect and seized the weapon used in the incident.
‘The accused was remanded in police custody for one day and will be produced before the court on Tuesday, where police will seek further physical remand,SSP Saifullah said.
Khuram Ahmed, a resident of Sector G-7/3-4, Islamabad, and brother ofthe deceased anchorperson, had registered the FIR with Saddar Bairooni police against Rabia’s husband, Muhammad Ahsan.
According to the FIR, Khuram was on his way to visit his sister Rabia at her house in Gulshan Abad when his other sister, who lived there along with their mother, informed him about the incident.
He said his sister had told him that she and their mother were sitting on the lawn at around 2:30pm while Rabia and her husband were in their bedroom.
They heard a gunshot and immediately rushed towards the bedroom.
According to the FIR, when the deceased’s sister entered the room, she found Rabia lying on the floor in a pool of blood, while the suspect was standing nearby holding a pistol.
Khuram said that after receiving an emergency call from his sister, he rushed to the house in Gulshan Abad, where he found Rabia’s body lying in a pool of blood in the bedroom. He alleged that the husband had shot and killed his sister. Police said Khuram’s statement corroborated the account of the incident and led to the registration of the FIR. Mohammad Asghar