Couple's bodies found in car in possible suicide

Police investigating poisoning of SZABIST graduates

HYDERABAD: Mystery surrounds the deaths of a young man and woman whose bodies were found lying in a car parked in a garage in Water and Power Development Authority (WAPDA) Colony on Friday evening. The police are investigating the possibility of intentional or carbon monoxide poisoning.

The deceased, Mustafa Raza Shaikh and Benazir Qadri, both graduates of Shaheed Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto Institute of Science and Technology (Szabist), were shifted to Civil Hospital by residents of the locality. Their parents, however, took away the bodies without allowing a post-mortem to be carried out.



However, the Hussainabad police, in whose jurisdiction the incident occurred, later brought Mustafa's body to the hospital for post-mortem. He is the son of Hyderabad Electric Supply Company's safety director, Tufail Ahmed Shaikh. However, Benazir's father, Khadim Hussain Qadri, told the police that his daughter committed suicide and refused to allow an autopsy to be conducted.

Medico-legal officer Dr Ayub Wassan told The Express Tribune that Mustafa's samples had been taken for post-mortem. The samples will be sent to the government labs in Karachi and Jamshoro today (Monday) and the lab report is expected within five to six days.

A doctor who saw the bodies and wished to remain anonymous said that skin from different parts of their bodies appeared damaged and peeled off. "This suggests poisoning," he said.

A resident said the car was parked in a shuttered garage between 1pm and 1:30pm. The bodies were taken out around five hours later. "People are saying Mustafa offered Friday prayers and then went back to the garage," he said.



The family says the couple wanted to marry but their parents were opposed to it.

Hussainabad SHO Imdad Talpur said the police have yet to lodge an FIR as both families are unwilling to pursue a police case and the post-mortem report will be released in a couple of days.

Published in The Express Tribune, June 20^th, 2016.