‘This is not Sapna Khan’s body’

Family accuses police of conjuring up false leads.

LAHORE:

The family of Sapna Khan on Friday snubbed an approach by police for help in identifying a body discovered in Gujjar Khan.

They also accused police of trying to protect ex-chief minister Dost Mohammad Khosa.  The police, however, said they were only doing their job.

The headless body of a woman was found  from the trunk of an abandoned car near Nisa Checkpost on GT road on April 12. Guards at a mobile phone franchise had discovered a head in the bushes near GT road near Sohawa two days later.

Speaking to The Express Tribune, Gujjar Khan SHO Raja Akhtar said the car was smuggled and carried a number plate issued for a motorcycle.

He said that the Race Course SHO Waseem Akhtar had responded to an advertisement  seeking help with identifying the body and requested its pictures. He said he had also provided finger prints and a DNA sample.

Race Course police contacted Sapna Khan’s family on Thursday night. However, the family refused to go to Gujjar Khan for the purpose.

Her brother Amin Khan said that the pictures were clearly not of Sapna. He said police were trying to confuse the matter.

He said that police were aware that she had been taken to Dera Ghazi Khan and killed nine months ago. “How could they confuse a woman killed nine months ago with one killed so recently?”

He said that Akhtar had advised them to ask for another investigating officer since he could not efficiently interrogate Khosa himself.

SHO Akhtar told The Tribune police had done their duty by showing the family pictures of the body.

Advocate Azhar Siddique, counsel in the Sapna Khan dissappearance case, said that since a judge had demanded comments from Defense B police station, police were trying to ‘spin’ the case. He said he had filed a request for changing the investigating officer.

Published in The Express Tribune, April 21^st, 2012.