Man allegedly killed by wife, her paramour

Suspects confess to plotting mugging to murder Usman Ali

RAWALPINDI: Police on Tuesday claimed to have solved the murder of a man who was allegedly killed by armed robbers on May 31, stating that the robbery had been allegedly planned by the victim’s wife and executed by her paramour.

In a press briefing on Tuesday, Saddar SP Ziauddin said that a couple, Usman Ali and his wife were travelling from Kallar Sayedan to Rawalpindi on their motorbike when they were intercepted by unidentified armed robbers near the Sagri area on the Kallar Syedan Road, within the remits of the Rawat police.

Ziauddin said that per the sequence of events narrated by the wife, the robbers had attempted to snatch valuables from them. While Usman complied, his wife resisted at which the suspects shot the couple.

As a result, Usman was killed on the spot while his wife survived with injuries.

The police official said that the victim operated a mobile phones and accessories shop in the Shah Bagh area. On the day of the incident, he said that Usman was bringing his wife back from her parents’ home in Kallar Sayedan where she had gone to spend Eid holidays.

SP Zia said that initially, the case appeared one to be of snatching gone awry. However, when the police probed the case in greater detail, they learnt that Usman’s wife, Nimra, had been forced into an arranged marriage with him a few months ago.

Armed with this information, SP Zia said that the police grew suspicious. He said that when they questioned Nimra, she could not provide them with satisfactory answers.

The Rawat police then brought in her friend, Wajid Khan, in for questioning. He confessed to plotting Usman’s murder with his friend Firoz Naeem, SP Zia claimed.

Published in The Express Tribune, June 10^th, 2020.