Accused in woman’s murder case sent on physical remand

Police carry out post-mortem, DNA test of victim

RAWALPINDI:

Duty Civil Judge Arif Khan Niazi on Sunday remanded Rizwan Habib, the ex-husband of US-Pakistani citizen Wajiha Swati, into police custody for three days.

The court also granted the physical remand of the accused’s father Hurriyatullah and his servant Sultan. The court ordered the police to produce the three accused on December 29.

The accused was produced in the court under strict security on Sunday. The accused’s father and his servant have also confessed to their abetting in the crime. The US embassy will also be notified of the investigation on Monday.

The ex-husband of Wajiha Swati, who was abducted and killed two months ago, has confessed to killing his former wife.

The victim woman had come to Rawalpindi from the United States on October 16 to settle a property dispute. The accused ex-husband killed her on the day she arrived and shifted her body to Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa.

The mutilated body of the deceased has been shifted to Rawalpindi for a post-mortem while the DNA test of the deceased has also been done.

Police have also decided to record the statement of the accused under section 164 within 48 hours.

Despite the fact that accused Rizwan Habib was named in the FIR, the police deferred his arrest for two months.

Earlier, addressing a press conference on the abduction and murder of Wajiha, Rawalpindi City Police Officer (CPO) Sajid Kayani said that Wajiha had reached Pakistan on October 16.

Her former husband, Rizwan Habib, killed her on the same day after kidnapping her and buried her body in a room at the house of one of his own servants in Lakki Marwat. Police have recovered the body on the identification of the suspect, after which the body will be shifted to Rawalpindi.

The CPO had said it was too early to say whether Wajiha had been given drugs before being murdered. The facts will come out after the postmortem report, he said.

“The case is of immense international significance for which four teams, headed by SSP Investigation Syed Ghazanfar, were formed to investigate the matter,” he said, adding the case is being heard in the Rawalpindi Bench of the Lahore High Court while the US Embassy in Pakistan also exchanged information on the case.

When asked about the twomonth delay in the arrest of prime suspect Rizwan Habib, the CPO said that the police needed sufficient evidence to validate his arrest.

Habib was arrested after concrete evidence of his involvement had surfaced, he said, adding that the outcome of the case is horrific. The investigation team retrieved the body of the woman after the confession and identification of the accused.

The police have solid evidence against the accused, which cannot save him from punishment.

 

Published in The Express Tribune, December 27^th, 2021.