KARACHI, Dec 24: The trussed-up body of an unidentified young woman, stuffed in a suitcase, was found on Wednesday at the Cantt railway station, police and witnesses said.
They said that a navy blue suitcase, wrapped in a red woolen bedspread, was found abandoned beside a pillar in the reservation hall at around 2pm.
The railway police said that a constable spotted the suitcase and shifted it to the health centre. Much to the surprise of the railway police, it contained a young woman’s body.
The SHO of the Cantt Police Station, Mohammed Yaqoob Niazi, told Dawn that the hands and feet of the woman were tied with pieces of a twine and a vest was wrapped around her neck.
He said that the victim, clad in brown shalwar-qamees, was fair and appeared to be in her early 30s. “She appears to be from a well-off family.”
He said that the face of the victim was bruised.
“The culprits tried to disfigure her face by either burning her face or pouring acid on it in their bid to leave the victim beyond recognition,” he added.
The body was shifted to the Jinnah Postgraduate Medical Centre for a postmortem examination. Sources at the hospital’s medico-legal section said that the victim woman had been strangled.
The Cantt Railway police registered a case (FIR 76/2008) against unknown culprits under Sections 302 (murder) and 34 (common intention) of the Pakistan Penal Code on behalf of the state.The body was later kept at the Edhi morgue for want of identification.
Ex-DSP gunned down
A 65-year-old police officer-turned-lawyer was gunned down on Wednesday near City Courts as he walked to the bus stop from his nearby office, police and witnesses said.
The Mithadar police said that ex-DSP Rahim Khan Bangash, a practising lawyer, was shot dead by an unknown attacker or attackers at around 5.30pm near Sindh Madrassatul Islam on Shahrah-i-Liaquat. He hailed from Kohat.
The body was shifted to the Civil Hospital for a postmortem examination. Sources at the hospital’s medico-legal section told Dawn that the victim was shot a single bullet that entered the rear of the victim’s head and exited from the forehead.
His paralegal staff, Rahil, told Dawn that he heard a shot and saw ex-DSP Rahim Khan Bangash fall to the ground. “I thought he suffered a heart attack as he fell,” he added.
He said that Mr Bangash used to walk from his office at R.K. Square to the bus stop to catch public transport.
The police said that the victim, father of 10 from two wives, was a resident of Lalabad, a Pushtun-dominated locality in Quaidabad.
They said that the incident seemed to be motivated by a personal feud.
The police said that no case was registered till late as they were still waiting for a complaint from the victim’s family.
51 vehicles, 40 cell phones robbed
As many as 51 vehicles – 37 motorbikes and 14 automobiles – and 40 mobile phones were taken away in different parts of the city by the evening on Wednesday, officials at the Citizens-Police Liaison Committee (CPLC) said.
They said that two cars were snatched at gunpoint within the police precincts of Gulshan-i-Iqbal and Korangi Industrial Area.The CPLC officials said that 12 other automobiles were stolen in the police jurisdictions of Darakhshan, Mubina Town, Aziz Bhatti, Ferozabad, Nazimabad, Sir Syed Town, Preedy, Saddar, Sharea Fasial and Site.
They said that bandits snatched three motorcycles after holding the victims hostage at gunpoint in the police limits of Gulshan-i-Iqbal, Korangi and Sharea Faisal.
The officials said that 34 other bikes were lifted in the police jurisdictions of Steel Town, Frere, Gizri, Azizabad, New Town, Gulistan-i-Jauhar, Mubina Town, Sachal, Brigade, Soldier Bazaar, Ferozabad, Korangi Industrial Area, Awami Colony, Landhi, Shahrah-i-Noorjahan, Taimuria, Preedy, Garden, Mithadar, Risala, City Courts, Kharadar and Site.
They said that 23 cellular phones were snatched at gunpoint in different parts of Gulshan-i-Iqbal, Clifton, Jamshed Quarters, Korangi, Gadap, Saddar, Shah Faisal, Keamari, Malir and Site.
The CPLC officials said that 50 vehicles – 43 motorcycles and 7 cars – and 107 cellular phones had been taken away across the city on Tuesday.
Of them, they said, four motorcycles and 45 cellular phones were snatched during armed holdups.
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