School principal was killed by husband, not muggers

The husband of a school principal, who was alleged to have been shot dead by robbers in Soldier Bazaar area on December 10, confessed to killing his wife, Geo News reported on Sunday.

The husband, identified as Ali Hassan, confessed to the police that he had concocted the story about armed bandits shooting his wife, 41-year-old Ambreen Fatima. The police have taken three suspects into custody, including Ali, his alleged second wife, Sahar Shams, and her brother, Balaaj.

According to the police, they became suspicious of Ali’s mugging story because there was a sign of blacking on the victim’s temple, which indicated that the bullet was fired from close range. A call between Ali and Sahar and later between Sahar and her brother, in which she relayed the murder’s details, led police to arrest Ali.

Ali worked as an administrator in the same school where Ambreen was the principal, while Sahar was employed as a teacher there. Sahar and Ambreen were also friends, said police, adding that Sahar and Ali had married secretly.

Sahar’s brother, Balaaj, had been pressurising Ali to declare the second marriage which led to the latter killing his first wife, police said. Officials were still ascertaining the extent of Sahar’s involvement in the murder.

On December 10, it was reported that Ambreen Fatima, principal of a private school, was shot dead by robbers and the incident was linked to rising street crime in the city.

The suspect, Ali, had told the police at the time that he and his wife were driving around the city and had entered Parsi Colony, a locality within the vicinity of Soldier Bazaar police station. There, two unidentified gunmen on a motorcycle had intercepted them and demanded their mobile phones, cash and other valuables.

He claimed he had made a slight movement to hand over his phone to them but suspecting his motives, they opened fire, killing his wife.

Police had also registered a case against the gunmen under sections 397 (robbery or dacoity with attempt to cause death or grievous hurt) and 34 (common intention) of the Pakistan Penal Code.