MULTAN: A man’s decapitated corpse, who is suspected to have been a victim of ‘honour’ killing, was discovered by police officials on Saturday morning.
According to the police Ghulam Murtaza received an urgent call from Landlord Irshad late on Friday night and rushed to meet him. The following morning, police officials found his corpse abandoned in front of his home. Police officials believed that Murtaza was murdered because the landlord suspected him of having illicit relations with his daughter.
According to a relative of the landlord, Murtaza’s ears, lips, tongue, nose were sliced his eyes were gouged out with a knife before his head was severed.
“I was there and I saw the whole thing. Irshad had previously hired Murtaza to do odd jobs for him,” the landlord’s relative said.
Police officials sent Murtaza’s body for a post mortem examination.
“I have seen many brutal cases in my career but this case was especially horrific. The victim’s body had been chopped up beyond recognition,” Nishtar Hospital’s Dr Ghaffur said.
The medical report confirmed that Murtaza was brutally tortured before the murder. “There are signs that he was alive for some time before they finally put him out of his pain,” Dr Ghaffur said.
Murtaza’s neighbour Kashif said that he walked out of his house in the morning and found Murtaza’s body dumped outside the gate. “I immediately called the police. The body was barely recognisable. I didn’t even know it was him,” he said.
“He couldn’t be recognised but we found his ID card and wallet and were able to identify him,” said Station House Officer Sadiq Dogar.
Dogar has filed an FIR no8/11 in the Ghaggoo Mandi police station and a police team is currently searching for Irshad’s whereabouts. “He had several accomplices but people are reluctant to point them out. We are taking statements and will soon know who exactly was involved,” the SHO said.
Murtaza’s mother Shukran Bibi has demanded that the Punjab government take stern action against the people involved in this case. “They murdered my son on a ridiculous charge. They falsely accused him and then killed him,” she said.
Dogar said that police officials had already raided several locations in the district in search of the criminals but so far they had been unable to locate them.
“The men seemed to have escaped but we are looking for them and this crime will not go unpunished,” he said. An FIR has been lodged according to Section 302. Police officials said that several members of Irshad’s family had been taken in for questioning.
Published in The Express Tribune, January 9th, 2011.
COMMENTS (1)
Comments are moderated and generally will be posted if they are on-topic and not abusive.
For more information, please see our Comments FAQ