Retired PU female professor killed

LAHORE

Unidentified suspects killed a retired woman professor of Punjab University at her official residence with a sharp-edged weapon in the Muslim Town police limits on Tuesday.

 Police have removed the body to morgue for autopsy. The victim was identified as Tahira Malik, a resident of Punjab University Housing Colony. She had retired from Molecular Genetic Department a couple of months back. Her husband had also died.

She was living alone at the house while her only daughter was in Karachi. On the day of the incident, her daughter tried to contact her on phone but failed. Then she informed the university administration. They reached the scene and broke open the door. They found her dead. Police after being informed reached the scene and collected evidence. Police have started probing the incident keeping in view different aspects including dacoity.

However, a Punjab University spokesman said that no evidence of robbery or resistance was found at the residence.  He said that Mrs Tahira was living alone at official residence EA-51 situated at Professor’s Colony New Campus and was working at the same department on contract after her retirement while her daughter was living in Karachi. He said that university officials did not find evidence of robbery or resistance when they reached the scene while TV was on and things were in routine order. The spokesman said that police were investigating the case. The spokesman said that Tahira Malik had joined PU Centre for Applied Molecular Biology in 1984 as research scholar. She did her MS (equivalent to MPhil) from California University Riverside, USA in 1990. She later joined Department of Microbiology and Molecular Genetics in 2004 and retired on August 15, 2016 as Assistant Professor.

SP Rana Umar Farooq said the victim was alone at home and she was killed by a blunt weapon.