Body of ‘drowned’ girl found

Veterinary hospital owner admits he killed Sara after sexual abuse

KARACHI:

The body of a young girl, who was reported kidnapped by her family two days ago, has been found floating in the sea near Do Darya in the Sea View area of DHA, Phase-VIII on Sunday.

The body of 23-year-old Sara Malik daughter of Abrar Ahmed, was shifted to Jinnah Hospital for a postmortem examination. Sara’s family is convinced that it is a murder and not a suicide. On Thursday, police had registered an abduction case against the owner of a veterinary hospital where Sara worked, and one of the staff nurses.

Subsequently, the two accused were taken into custody and police said they have found evidence during investigation which points to sexual abuse of the girl. The body of Sara, who apparently drowned in the sea near Do Darya on Friday, was fished out by divers of the Edhi Foundation on Sunday morning. The body was identified with the help of a national identity card found in her bag separately found on the Sea View beach.

Sara Malik was a resident of Azam Basti, in Mahmoodabad, and worked in a veterinary hospital located in Nishat Commercial, Phase-VI, DHA. According to the family, Sara had left home on Friday afternoon to go to the hospital but did not return. Police registered a kidnapping case on Saturday night on the complaint of Sara’s father Abrar Ahmed against the hospital owner, Dr. Shan Saleem, and staff nurse Bisma.

Abrar stated in the FIR that his daughter went to work on December 6 and called back his mother, telling that Dr. Shan and Bisma had done something wrong to her. Sara’s mother asked her not to worry and come back home, but she did not. At around 4pm., Dr. Shan called to inform the family that Sara’s purse, shoes and other belongings were found on the Sea View beach while she is missing.

He asked her father to immediately come to Clock Tower, where he, a large number of people, and a police contingent were present, according to the FIR. “Police handed me my daughter’s belongings which, they said, were found at around 3:15pm while her mobile phone is missing and they are searching for it,” the distraught father further stated.

He believed that Dr. Shan Saleem, along with Bisma and other accomplices, had abducted his daughter. While speaking to the media, an uncle of Sara said that some members of their family had visited the veterinary hospital and seen footage from the CCTV cameras installed there in which they could clearly see Sara exiting the hospital in a visible state of distress as she was crying. However, the hospital administration deleted all the data from the CCTV cameras before police reached there for investigation.

Sara’s uncle said he is 100 per cent sure that his niece has been murdered and that she has not committed suicide. Asad Raza, SSP South, and Zubaidah Parveen, SP Investigation South, told The Express Tribune that they have arrested both the accused nominated in the FIR. They further stated that they have found evidence during the investigation that indicates Sara had been sexually abused in the veterinary hospital. Meanwhile, the owner of the hospital Dr Shan Saleem has admitted before the police that he had physical relations with Sara and the staff nurse knew about their relations.

He also admitted that Sara was killed after the sexual abuse. The two police officers also confirmed that during a raid on the hospital they found that the data of the CCTV cameras had been deleted. Police also found that the hospital administration had tried to tamper with the evidence at the crime scene.