Police await forensic report to unravel murder mystery

Forensic report expected within three weeks.

LAHORE: The post-mortem report of the mystery murder victim, Abeera, has suggested that she had suffocated to death. It will take another three weeks before the forensic report is received.

Iqbal Town Investigation SP Ejaz Shafi Dogar said that Farooq, who had been arrested on Tuesday, had initially denied knowledge of the deceased. “Later, he admitted that he had been friends with Abeera. However, he has denied involvement in the murder,” he said.

He said the deceased autopsy report had been received.

“No fingerprints or signs of violence were found on the body. The cause of her death is apparently suffocation. However, the cause of death will be definitely determined after the Punjab Forensic Science Agency provides the results of various tests being done on her hair, nails and samples obtained from her internal organs,” he said.

“The autopsy report had said that the body had been kept in a freezer for a significant amount of time. We are not jumping to any conclusion regarding the cause of death. We are waiting for the forensic test results. Arsenic, a slow poison, was found at Tooba’s house along with liquor and some drugs. She claimed that these belonged to Farooq. There is a possibility that the deceased was poisoned or drugged before she was strangled,” he said.

He said that the post-mortem examination had detected bleeding from the mouth.

Published in The Express Tribune, February 26^th, 2015.