Grisly trend: Capital police clueless about four dumped bodies

Officials have no leads on two found in June; hopeful about two recovered recently


Arsalan Altaf September 28, 2016
Ali was optimistic that they would be able to solve this case soon. It is important to note here that there has been an alarming increase in the number of murders in the capital over the past few months PHOTO: ONLINE

ISLAMABAD: Police are clueless about the killers involved in the murder of four people whose bodies were found dumped in different areas of the capital over the past few months.

While dozens of murders have taken place in the federal capital in recent months, the growing trend of bodies being dumped by the roadside is frighteningly new. Moreover, since at least  two of the bodies found had been stuffed into bags.

These bodies were recovered from the within the remits of Margalla, Koral, Noon and Sabzi Mandi police stations mostly in the  outskirts of the capital.

First, the body of a 50-year-old man was dumped in a ditch on the greenbelt near Centaurus Mall on June 22. Police said the man had been shot dead.



A few days later, Koral police registered a murder case after the body of a 28-year-old woman was found dumped in the wilderness. A post-mortem examination of her body found that she had been tortured.

In both of these cases, police said the bodies had been recovered days after they had been dumped and had started decomposing. Therefore they could not take fingerprints to identify them from National Database Regulatory Authority (NADRA) records.

Their bodies were temporarily buried and police are at a loss about who they were, or who may have killed them.

Then just four days ago, police found another body dumped by the roadside. The mutilated remains of a 50-year-old man were found stuffed in a  bag  in Sector I-14 on Saturday.

Police said the man’s body -- particularly his head and face -- bore marks of injuries, suggesting he could have been tortured prior to his death.

SI Umar Hayat, who is investigating the case, told The Express Tribune on Tuesday that police had made no headway so far in the case so far beyond a post-mortem report which confirmed that the man had been murdered.

“We will try to identify him through his fingerprints with Nadra’s help,” he said, adding that his face was too disfigured to identify him visually.

A day later on Sunday, police recovered the body of young woman from the Sabzi Mandi area. Her body had been stuffed into a bag and dumped by the side of the road as well.

In this case, however, the police were able to identify the 26-year-old woman and locate her family in Kharian area of Gujrat.

Sabzi Mandi SHO Inspector Arshad Ali told The Express Tribune on Tuesday that police were  following up on a few leads. Officials had said that footage from surveillance cameras showed a taxi leaving the bag near a bus stand along the IJ Principal Road. However, the vehicle’s number plate was not fully visible but they were making efforts to trace the particular cab.

Ali was optimistic that they would be able to solve this case soon. It is important to note here that there has been an alarming increase in the number of murders in the capital over the past few months. The city had recorded at least 27 murders between May, June and July this year.

Published in The Express Tribune, September 28th, 2016.

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