Man held over wife ‘murder plot’

Suspect schemed to make murder appear armed robbery

GUJRANWALA:

Police arrested a man on charges of planning the murder of his wife.

The accused was identified as Shahzad Sohail, a resident of Hasanwali area of Ahmednagar police station.

Shahzad had allegedly planned the murder of his wife in February this year. It took police six months to solve the murder case because the suspect had been trying to hoodwink the police by portraying the murder as a result of his late wife’s resisting a robbery bid and then getting shot.

Shahzad had gone to Canada many years ago. There he met Rida. They both liked each other and got married.

Rida Shahzad gave birth to two children, a boy and a girl. They regularly visited Pakistan to see their relatives.

Their last visit to Pakistan proved fateful. They lived in Hasanwali village where Shahzad took pity on his parents who had grown very old.

The suspect decided that he was not going to leave his parents behind and that he would not go back to Canada but live with his parents.

His wife Rida, however, refused to live in Pakistan, and this matter became a bone of contention between the couple.

Shahzad allegedly decided to get rid of his wife, and enlisted help of several people to devise a plan.

According to police, the suspect and his accomplices came up with the idea that Shahzad would take his wife out for shopping and on their return they would be intercepted by some people disguised as robbers who would shoot Rida dead.

So on the day of the incident, the couple went shopping with their children and an uncle of Shahzad’s, Nasir, to Ghakar. There, after they did their shopping they were returning to their village when two motorcyclists who had been waiting for them near Gulwala as per the plan intercepted them and snatched Rs40,000 cash and a mobile phone worth Rs30,000 from them.

According to the initial FIR, the robbers tried to snatch the mobile phone from Rida Shahzad, but Rida refused to give the mobile phone to the robbers on which they shot her dead.

A case was registered and police immediately started their investigation.

On the orders of the CPO, teams were formed under the leadership of the SP of Sadar, Osman Tipu. The teams also included In Charge of CIA, Inspector Ansar Javed Mohal, and SHO Adnan Ejaz.

The CIA started its investigation by asking the children about the incident. The children were so scared that they could not tell anything in detail, except that “Papa is bad”. This statement made the police suspicious.

A case had already been registered on the complaint of Shahzad Sohail. The police broadened the scope of their investigation.

Meanwhile, the CIA in charge asked the plaintiff some questions that the plaintiff could not satisfactorily answer.

The children were interviewed again, and this time round police got some clues which confirmed their suspicions. The police started investigating the matter regarding the relationship between the couple.

The police focused on the role of the husband.

When Shahzad Sohail was shown the evidence, he said that he would talk to his lawyer.

However, the police worked on the case more quickly, made the statements of the children a part of the record and also questioned Nasir.

Meanwhile, the police arrested the accused, Khizar Tarar, who allegedly told the police that everything was a plan. It was not a robbery but a planned murder.

 

Published in The Express Tribune, August 15^th, 2022.