Woman's body found buried in house months after disappearance

KARACHI:

Police have recovered the body of a woman who was buried inside her house near the Sukhna Bakhtawar Goth graveyard several months ago. The discovery was made based on the identification provided by an accused relative, who allegedly killed her out of greed for money, gold jewellery and her property.

The police had registered a missing person case on April 26 under kidnapping charges, following a complaint lodged by the victim's nephew, Mubarak Ahmad. The victim, 58-year-old Shamim, was a divorcee who had been living alone in her house in Malir for the past 15 years.

Shamim had been married three times and divorced each time. She worked at a local textile mill and had children from two of her previous marriages. Her sons, Nizakat and Rafaqat had visited her three to four months before the incident. Her nephews, Ahmad Raza and Rizwan, also frequently visited and stayed at her house.

According to Mubarak, he had returned to his village a year ago. About three months earlier, a relative named Imtiaz informed him that another female relative had mentioned Shamim visited her while ill and had taken medicine. After that visit, she was never seen again.

Upon learning of Shamim's disappearance, Mubarak visited her house in Bakhtawar Goth on April 25 with his cousin Khurshid Raza. They found the house locked. Neighbours told them that Shamim had been missing for about three months. In the presence of local residents, they broke the lock and entered the house, but found no one inside. Later, they gathered more information from neighbours and grew suspicious that Ahmad Raza, Rizwan, and others may have been involved in her disappearance due to greed or personal enmity.

SHO Sukhun, Adeel Shah, confirmed that police recovered the victim's buried body from her house based on information from the suspect. SIO Sukhun, Azam Solangi, said initial investigations suggest the motive was to take possession of the house and valuable belongings.

The victim's body was handed over to her relatives. She was later buried in her ancestral village, Oghi, Mansehra.