Do Darya drowning, autopsy reveals woman murdered, dumped in sea

The South district investigation police said on Thursday that the autopsy of the woman who went missing on the Do Darya area of the Sea View a few days ago revealed that she was murdered and did not drown.

South district Police Investigation SP Zahida Parveen says that after studying the autopsy report police suspect that the woman was first murdered then dumped into the sea. Police have added murder provision in the FIR of the case.

Talking to the media at a press conference at her office, SP Parveen said that a man named Jamal had called on police helpline 15 to inform about the drowning of a woman. When the police reached the spot, they found the woman's handbag, shoes, socks and a private veterinary clinic service card, among other items. She was identified as 23-year-old Sara Malik.

The hospital informed her parents, after which they reported her missing to the concerned police station. The police received information about the body on Sunday, January 8. According to the preliminary postmortem report, she did not drown, the body was fresh and had pre death marks on her face and nose.

SP Parveen said they have taken Jamal for questioning due to his statement that he saw the woman cry for 15 minutes on the beach's wall and heard her yelling at someone on the phone.

The deceased Sara was a physiotherapist but started working at the pet clinic because she loved animals. Within two years, Shan Saleem, the owner of the veterinary clinic, now one of the suspects, promoted Sara to an admin officer after they got into a relationship, SP Parveen shared.

She said that Sara's father named Shan Saleem and staff Bisma as suspects. Aradhana, the woman sitting at the hospital's reception, was also interrogated.

During the investigation, the police recovered Sara's mobile phone on the identification of the suspect. The suspect deleted all the data in it. Shan Saleem and his friend Waqas, who deliver animal feed, were found directly involved in deleting footage from the hospital's CCTV cameras and hid other evidence for which he was arrested. The rest of the staff is also being investigated.

SP Parveen told he media that the cause of death will be revealed in the final post-mortem and chemical examiner reports. The police have added the murder charge to the case. Bisma had escaped, and raids were being conducted in search of her. The place where the girl was killed is yet to be revealed.

Published in The Express Tribune, January 13^th, 2023.