Karachi police on Sunday detained the mother-in-law and husband of a deceased young woman whose body was abandoned at the Jinnah Postgraduate Medical Centre (JPMC) a day earlier, officials said.

On Saturday morning, an unidentified couple brought the body to the health facility in a car which was later recovered. According to the police, the woman — identified as 21-year-old Ayesha Kashif — was a resident of Gulistan-i-Johar.

A first information report of the incident is yet to be registered.

Talking to Dawn.com today, South Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP) Syed Asad Raza said Ayesha attended a party at a bungalow in Phase II of the Defence Housing Authority before her death.

The SSP further said that the deceased woman’s mother-in-law, identified as Nusrat Sobia, and husband were taken into custody today “for interrogation to ascertain the whereabouts of the couple that disappeared after dropping the body at JPMC”.

In a written statement submitted to the Defence police, Sobia said she was divorced and lived in Gulistan-i-Jauhar Block 16 for the past 16-17 years.

She said her son, Mohammed Adil, was associated with an online taxi service until six-seven months back but was now jobless. “After losing his job, he got addicted to heroin.”

Adil, Sobia continued, had married Ayesha — who worked at a beauty parlor — two years ago. She added that she heard about her daughter-in-law’s demise through news channels when she was visiting her native village in Punjab.

According to her statement, Sobia immediately returned to Karachi on Saturday and identified Ayesha’s body at the Chhipa morgue.

“I have come to the police station to give a statement that we have no dispute or enmity with anyone, therefore, I did not want any legal proceedings,” the statement added.

Furthermore, the SSP said the deceased’s husband also told the police that he did not want to pursue any legal action.

Raza added that earlier Sobia had told the police that she did not want to pursue legal proceedings into the case after which Ayesha’s father was traced in Okara.

“He is expected to arrive in Karachi on Monday. If the father wants to lodge an FIR, the police will initiate legal proceedings into the death of the woman.”

The SSP added that the body had been moved to a morgue and the police were waiting for the deceased’s father to proceed as per law.