Investigators say Rizwan wanted to avoid repaying money he owed Haleema
Karachi
The suspect arrested by the police on Wednesday night, Rizwan Ayaz Khan, has confessed to the murder of Haleema, mother of Abdullah, the boy he had dropped off at the Edhi Centre last month, it was reported on Thursday.
A week after Haleema's body was found from an apartment in Delhi Colony, officials of the Frere police station had arrested Rizwan from Super Highway on Wednesday.
According to Nasrullah Khan, investigation officer at the Baloch Colony police station, Rizwan confessed to drugging and then murdering Haleema over a monetary matter, as he owed the deceased a large sum of money and had also sold off her gold jewellery.
The officer said Rizwan had confessed to having given Haleem sleeping pills and then strangling her to death. The reason, as per Rizwan, was that he owed her Rs3.5 million and had also sold off her jewellery. Both had frequent quarrels over this issue which eventually culminated with Rizwan's barbaric act.
Khan added that Rizwan was claiming that Haleema was pressurising him to get married and was also threatening of telling on him to Sonia, his first wife.
On May 25, the officer quoted Rizwan as saying, he mixed sleeping pills in Haleema's tea and then strangled her with a piece of cloth. It was after this callous act that he took Abdullah to the Edhi Centre and went into hiding.
The police claimed that Khan’s hideout was traced through a mobile phone call. On May 25, he had dropped Abdullah, Haleema’s four-year-old son, at the Edhi Centre claiming that he had found him on Do Darya.
It was on June 1 that the police found 25-year-old Haleema’s body from an apartment that was discovered to have been handed over to her through Rizwan Ayaz Khan — a real estate agent.
The police had identified the suspect from the Edhi Centre’s CCTV camera footage. A day later police officials arrested Rizwan’s wife Sonia from their house located in Mehmoodabad. She was sent on a nine-day physical remand by a judicial magistrate on June 4.
Sonia alleged that Rizwan had asked her to leave with him but he fled after she refused. During interrogation she also disclosed that Rizwan had brought Haleema over to their place for some time but later got her an apartment in Delhi Colony.
A resident of Qayyumabad, Haleema was reported to have left the area for Multan with Abdullah and her husband, Iqbal, three months ago. According to a neighbour, who spoke to Faisal Edhi after Abdullah’s pictures were shown on television channels, the family had left for Iqbal’s medical treatment.
Haleema’s brother – also the one who identified her body – confirmed the neighbour’s story and informed that Iqbal had passed away during treatment after which she had come back to Karachi.
However, on June 5, 69-year-old Muhammad Iqbal claiming to be the deceased’ husband reached the Edhi Centre in Karachi to get Abdullah’s custody. According to the man, he had divorced Haleema a few months ago after they had been married for 10 years.
Authorities at the centre, however, did not hand over the boy’s custody to the man since the child did not recognise the man.
The matter would now be taken to court and any decision regarding Abdullah's custody can only be expected after the court ruling.
