Varsity student killed over monetary issue

A girl found dead in Railway Colony four days ago was a university student who had been shot dead by another student over a monetary dispute, police officials said on Sunday.

The victim was identified as Kainat, an MSc Zoology student of University of Agriculture Faisalabad. The police said she was shot dead by a graphic designing student over a monetary dispute.

People’s Colony Police arrested the suspect and handed over the body to the victim’s family who took it to Gujranwala.

According to police sources, the body of the 21-year-old girl was found near a school in Tariqabad, Railway Colony, at around 9pm on November 4. She had been shot in the head. The victim was identified after her family reported to the police that she was missing. The photograph of the body found by the police was shown to her father Asif Baig. He said it was of his 21-year-old daughter Kainat, who was an MSc in Zoology student in the University of Agriculture. She was living in a hostel at Harianwala Chowk.

SHO People’s Colony Rizwan Shaukat visited the hostel and gathered information about the student. It was revealed that she used to work at a call centre of Muhammad Talal Hussain, a resident of Samanabad near Harianwala Chowk. She had resigned from the job on July 8 due to non-payment of salary and Rs400,000 sent by her brother from abroad to Talal’s account.

The police officials said Kainat kept demanding the money from the accused. On the night of November 4, Talal picked up Kainat from her hostel and took her near Tariqabad Railway Colony School where he shot her dead and fled from scene. The SHO arrested the accused and interrogated him. Accused Talal Hussain told the police that he wanted to pay the money but could not do so due to the coronavirus lockdown.

According to the police, the victim Kainat was doing MSc on a scholarship.

Published in The Express Tribune, November 9^th, 2020.