Unsent text message sheds light on nurse’s death
Suspicious ‘suicide’ could be murder; police investigating role of blackmailers.
GILGIT:
The last unsent SMS on Shabana Akhtar’s cellphone might give some insight into her death.
It reads: “Papa! Syed Jarar will be responsible if something happens to me. He blackmails me, he is from Amphary.”
Hailing from Astore valley, the 24-year-old nurse died under mysterious circumstances in her hostel room in Gilgit on May 12. Her body was found hanging from the ceiling fan in what appeared to be a suicide. She had been staying there since December 2010, training to become a midwife at Gilgit’s midwifery school.
Police said they constituted a team at the request of her parents to investigate her death. The team was headed by Superintendent House Officer Sher Khan.
“As investigations progressed, we got hold of some important clues that led to the recovery of her cellphone with its memory still intact,” said a police official, on condition of anonymity. Police said when they got hold of her phone and SIM number 0312-9716723, the investigation took an unexpected turn.
“From the information on the cellphone and the SIM card, we have identified three people who sent several vulgar and threatening messages to her,” said the official. Jarar, an assistant nurse at District Headquarter Hospital Gilgit and named in her last unsent text message, and another suspect have already been arrested while a third suspect is still at large.
Police believe that the undelivered SMS found on Shabana’s phone might not have been sent due to a network issue. “But we are analysing all possible angles to get to the truth,” said the official, adding that the SMS was being treated as an authentic death statement. He did not rule out suicide though. He said that chances are that the nurse may have decided to kill herself after the threats she received via text messages.
Police added that the possibility of her having been murdered can also not be overruled. “We are also treating a hospital warden as a suspect,” the official said, adding that they have sought technical assistance from the cyber crime wing in Islamabad to have the phone and SIM checked.
Published in The Express Tribune, May 22nd, 2011.
The last unsent SMS on Shabana Akhtar’s cellphone might give some insight into her death.
It reads: “Papa! Syed Jarar will be responsible if something happens to me. He blackmails me, he is from Amphary.”
Hailing from Astore valley, the 24-year-old nurse died under mysterious circumstances in her hostel room in Gilgit on May 12. Her body was found hanging from the ceiling fan in what appeared to be a suicide. She had been staying there since December 2010, training to become a midwife at Gilgit’s midwifery school.
Police said they constituted a team at the request of her parents to investigate her death. The team was headed by Superintendent House Officer Sher Khan.
“As investigations progressed, we got hold of some important clues that led to the recovery of her cellphone with its memory still intact,” said a police official, on condition of anonymity. Police said when they got hold of her phone and SIM number 0312-9716723, the investigation took an unexpected turn.
“From the information on the cellphone and the SIM card, we have identified three people who sent several vulgar and threatening messages to her,” said the official. Jarar, an assistant nurse at District Headquarter Hospital Gilgit and named in her last unsent text message, and another suspect have already been arrested while a third suspect is still at large.
Police believe that the undelivered SMS found on Shabana’s phone might not have been sent due to a network issue. “But we are analysing all possible angles to get to the truth,” said the official, adding that the SMS was being treated as an authentic death statement. He did not rule out suicide though. He said that chances are that the nurse may have decided to kill herself after the threats she received via text messages.
Police added that the possibility of her having been murdered can also not be overruled. “We are also treating a hospital warden as a suspect,” the official said, adding that they have sought technical assistance from the cyber crime wing in Islamabad to have the phone and SIM checked.
Published in The Express Tribune, May 22nd, 2011.