Woman held in ‘poisoning’ case

The accused is suspected of poisoning her husband

SUKKUR: The Shikarpur police arrested a woman on Saturday evening on charges of poisoning her husband to death a few days ago.

The accused woman, Reema Bhutto, is suspected of poisoning her husband, Nisar Ahmed Bhutto, on January 22. The man died during treatment in a hospital on January 25. Nisar, who was a florist by profession and a resident of Haji Latif Shah Muhalla, was married to Reema under the custom of vata-sata marriage around 15 days ago.

On the night of January 22, Reema allegedly gave poisoned milk to her husband. After Nisar drank the milk, he started complaining about severe stomach ache and was taken to Shikarpur hospital. He was later shifted to a private hospital because there were no doctors there. On January 23, Nisar was shifted to a Sukkur hospital and then referred to a hospital in Karachi, where he died.

Nisar's mother, Salma, wife of Manzoor Bhutto, registered an FIR at the Lakhidar police station against her daughter-in-law, Reema, stating that she has poisoned her son to death. Later, the Lakhidar police raided the house of Reema's parents in Pir Wasil Shah and arrested the suspect.

The police claimed that Reema has confessed in her statement to adding poison in her husband's milk. According to the accused, the marriage was done under vata-sata arrangement 15 days ago and she poisoned him to death as she did not like him.

On contact, an official at the Lakhidar police station confirmed the arrest and said that the suspect is being kept at the women cell and will be produced in the court Monday morning.

Published in The Express Tribune, January 30^th, 2017.