Srinagar: The Jammu and Kashmir Police on Friday claimed to have solved a blind murder case in record time and arrested the accused involved in the commission of the crime.
In a statement, police said on November 11, Police Station Nigeen received directions from the court of Chief Judicial Magistrate Srinagar for filing a report in the light of a petition filed by the complainant, Nasir Hussain Kawa, son of Gh Hassan Kawa, a resident of Kawpora Shadipora, alleging that he was engaged to one Shahnaza, daughter of Late Mohd Qasim Sultan, a resident of Sultan Mohalla Saida Kadal Srinagar, and his marriage was fixed on November 4/5, 2020.
“On November 4 morning, the complainant was informed that the lady died due to heart attack. Finally, he stated that he had apprehensions of the lady being murdered. Accordingly, proceedings under section 174 CrPC was initiated,” the statement said.
Police said investigating officers learnt from the medical reports that the lady was actually murdered and proceedings u/s 174 CrPC were converted into a formal criminal case and an FIR vide no. 182/20 U/S 302 IPC was registered in Police Station Nigeen.
A special investigating team led by SHO Nigeen under the supervision of SDPO Zakoora immediately swung into action and started rounding up suspects in the instant case, the statement said.
“After hectic efforts and on human intelligence, the special team got the clues which were indicating the involvement of the family of the deceased.”
Among the suspects, Wajid Gulzar Sultan (nephew of the victim) was put to sustained questioning. He confessed to the crime and divulged the details & the sequence of events. He revealed that he along with his uncle, Mohammad Shafi Sultan, and sister, Nighat Gulzar, hatched a conspiracy to eliminate the lady namely Shahnaza as she has been their eyesore,” the statement said.
Wajid and Nighat were related as nephew/niece to the deceased while as Shafi was the step-brother of the deceased. The main conspirator is Shafi, who motivated Wajid & Nighat to take part in the killing of the victim, police said.
“Accordingly, on November 3, they all hatched a conspiracy to eliminate her. As the victim used to wake up for prayers very early in the morning, on November 4 wee hours, as she was busy in prayers, Shafi along with Nighat & Wajid entered the room & attacked the victim from behind and smothered her till death. Then they flattened and strangulated her with a golden coloured piece of cloth in order to ensure her death. Later on, they tied the cloth with a fan and tied the dead body with it for deriving an assumption that she has hanged herself to death.”
“The motive of the murder was that Shafi being the step-brother of the victim was not in good relationship with the victim and used to harass her on one pretext or other. On various instances, he used to torture her. Since their expired father had kept a piece of land for the victim, Shafi’s eye was on that piece of land.
“The jewellery which was brought by the family for the victim was also in Shafi’s mind. Since the victim was not happy with the articles especially jewellery brought by her family, as she had engaged in a verbal duel with the family especially with Shafi a day before the fateful day. Shafi was fed up with the behaviour of the victim. He also wanted to grab the piece of land and the jewellery. For that purpose, he persuaded Wajid and Nighat to help him in killing her. For that purpose, he promised both of them of equal share out of it,” the statement said.
Police further said Shafi’s conduct was always questionable as he used to return home drunk which was always objected by the victim.
“After the disclosure of the accused and the linkage of other evidence, all of them were arrested. The article of the offence was identified by the accused and recovered from their house. Further investigation into the case is in progress,” the statement said.
