In the family: Police believe son involved in principal’s murder

Say two men arrested for the murder had confessed to killing the professor on his son’s instructions.

FAISALABAD:

Jhang District Police Officer Akhtar Umar Hayat Lalika said on Saturday that the police believed that Professor Mohammad Nawaz Sial, principal of the Government Degree College for Boys, Chak 170-JB, Dabbanwala, was killed by his son.

At a press conference, DPO Lalika said two men arrested in connection with the case had confessed to killing the professor. He said the suspects had alleged that they were asked by Ali Raza, son of the deceased, to kill him.

The DPO said the police were still searching for the third man mentioned in the FIR.

The FIR had stated that the suspects had forcibly entered the residence of Professor Sial at New Civil Lines in the Kotwali area on August 23 and shot him. Professor Sial had been hit in the neck and died on the spot.

Professor Sial, 55, husband of Nusrat Nawaz, principal of the Government College for Women, Mandi Shah Jewna. He had two daughters and a son  Armghana Ali, Farana Ali and Mohammad Ali Raza, 17.

On hearing the firing, Ali Raza, Armghana Ali and Mohammad Hasnain, a nephew of Sial, had rushed to the room and tried to overpower the assailants. One of them had been covering his face but lost the veil during the scuffle.

Lalika said the investigation team comprising City Circle DSP Mirza Anjum Kamal, Kotwali SHO Ghulam Shabbir and Civil Lines Incharge Sub-Inspector Sanaullah had arrested two suspects  Kashif Imran of Mohallah Sultan Wala and Muhammad Tanveer of Rahwali Main Bazaar, Mohallah Rajputan, Gujranwala Cantt. “During interrogation, the suspects not only confessed the crime but also disclosed that Ali Raza had asked them to kill his father,” Lalika said. They were friends of Ali Raza. They said he had provided them the pistol registered in his father’s name. They also purchased another pistol. The suspects said they had twice tried to kill Prof Sial earlier but failed.

Nusrat Sial was not available for comment.

Published in The Express Tribune, September 23^rd, 2012.