Tight-lipped about possible deal,mother wants ‘killer’ behind bars

Police believe prime suspect’s family seeks pardon for 21-year-old’s ‘murder’

An investigation into the death of a newly-wed woman has revealed that the family of the prime suspect, the husband, apparently wishes to broker a deal with the victim’s family, but the woman’s mother wishes to see the “killer” behind bars.

Twenty-one-year-old Farheen Bibi, a model by profession, was found dead in a sixth-floor room of a hotel in the Saddar locality in the late hours of Saturday. By the time the police recovered her body, her husband, Shaheer Faisal Rizwan, had fled the country.

Preedy police have registered a case against the husband on the complaint of the victim’s mother, Samina Parveen. However, it seems that Shaheer’s family is trying to get Farheen’s family to pardon the husband, harking back to the Shahzaib Khan murder case.

On December 25, 2012, Shahrukh Jatoi and a friend had killed university student Shahzaib Khan near Mubarak Masjid in DHA. But Khan’s family pardoned the murderer.

A similar deal?

DSP Bashir Ahmed of Saddar Division Investigation-I told The News on Tuesday that it seemed that Shaheer’s family had offered a deal to Farheen’s family.

“The victim’s mother and her in-laws visited Bilawal House on May 1 and met with Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) office-bearers,” said DSP Ahmed. “Private TV channels aired the news of the visit, but the details of the meeting were not disclosed.”

The officer said the condition of Farheen’s body suggested that she was drugged before being strangled to death. “The autopsy report will confirm the cause of death, but Shaheer’s escape from the country has raised many suspicions.”

DSP Ahmed said the police had detained Shaheer’s close friend Saad, who told the investigators that Shaheer told him over the phone that he had informed Farheen’s mother about her “suicide” and taken money from his mother to leave for Dubai. “Saad said Shaheer and Farheen had fought several times over different issues after getting married, and he had mediated between them,” added Ahmed. “We are waiting for the autopsy report and the forensic report of the victim’s mobile phone to ascertain whether it was a suicide or a murder.”

On Wednesday, however, Preedy SIO Irshan Kareem said he had received the forensic report of Farheen’s mobile phone, but he said there was nothing there that could help with the case. He added that no one from Shaheer’s family had contacted the police after a case was registered against him.

Background

Farheen’s mother Samina told the police that Shaheer was a resident of Bahria Town in Rawalpindi, and Farheen and Shaheer had become friends a few months ago.

Samina said that around three months ago, the two went to Dubai and Farheen informed her that they had got married there. “Farheen was in touch with me through WhatsApp since she left.”

The mother talked to Shaheer, who confirmed that they had indeed got married. “On this, I requested them to produce a marriage certificate as proof.”

According to Samina’s police statement, Farheen and Shaheer returned to Karachi on February 2 and then got married on February 28; on March 1, the two visited Samina in Islamabad and then returned to Karachi after almost a month.

On March 28, Shaheer rented a room at a hotel in Saddar as temporary residence. Late on Saturday night, the mother came to know about Farheen’s death through a private TV channel, following which she arrived in Karachi.

An independent investigation by The News reveals that Shaheer belongs to a wealthy family. His parents own a house in Block-IV of Gulshan-e-Iqbal. His father runs a chain of private schools in the city and his mother belongs to an influential family. There were some unconfirmed reports that Shaheer’s mother had disinherited him five years ago and that his father had followed suit a few months ago when he found out that he had married a model.

 ‘Arrest the killer’

In a telephonic conversation with The News, Samina did not confirm or deny if she had been offered a deal by Shaheer’s family, but she did say that she wanted the police to arrest her daughter’s husband. The mother, however, kept mum about the details of her meeting with PPP office-bearers at Bilawal House. She is currently back in Islamabad for Farheen’s last rites, but she will return to Karachi after a few days.