HYDERABAD: The mystery behind murder of a woman, whose skull was recovered on Tuesday (May 15) from Pinyari Canal, was resolved on Friday when police formally arrested a couple who confessed to have killed her.

Hyderabad SSP Pir Mohammad Shah along with ASP Zahida Parveen and CIA DSP Mohammad Aslam Langha told a press conference at the local police headquarters that the victim was Hina Lodhi, 26, wife of Adnan Lodhi. He said Adnan’s elder brother-in-law, Mansab, strangled Hina to death after she resisted his criminal assault bid on her on May 12.

The SSP said that Mansab’s wife, Rukhsana, the elder sister of Adnan, had facilitated the abortive criminal assault by coordinating with her husband in committing the offence.

DSP Langha said that Mansab chopped off the body into eight pieces, packed them in three gunny bags and threw each of the bags at different places with the help of his wife. A missing report of Hina was lodged at the Baldia police station on May 13 by her in-laws.

The woman’s skull was taken to the Liaquat University Hospital (LHU) where her father and other family members recognised her with the earrings she wore.

The police officers, unveiling further details of the investigation into the case, said that Mansab and Rukhsana along with their four-year-old mentally challenged son and some other members of Mansab’s family lived on the ground floor of a house in the Ghumanabad locality while Adnan, Hina and his other brothers lived on the upper storey. However, a couple of months back, Mansab alone moved to a rented room within the locality due to some personal issues with Adnan and his brothers.

They said that during interrogation, Rukhsana, who adopted a rude attitude towards investigators, could not maintain secrecy anymore and revealed the entire episode. She was quoted as saying that her husband did all this in “revenge” for his insult on the part of Adnan and his brothers.

Since Mansab was jobless and his family was poor, he also intended to rob Hina of her money and gold jewellery, they added.

DSP Langha said that Mansab asked Rukhsana to keep an eye on Hina’s routine and inform him as to when he could find Hina alone at her home. On May 12, Rukhsana invited Mansab to the house telling him that Hina was all alone on the upper floor.

Quoting Rukhsana, the DSP said Mansab came to the house and went to the upper floor. He tried to sexually assault her but she posed strong resistance forcing Mansab to gag her. She died due to the strangulation, Rukhsana was quoted as telling the investigators.

The DSP said that Mansab then dragged the body to the washroom where he chopped off the body and packed the pieces in three gunny bags, which were later thrown at different places in the city by the couple. Before leaving the house, Mansab also collected two gold sets, four rings, two bangles and about Rs20,000 in cash from her home, he said.

All these articles and money as well as Hina’s burqa and the crime weapon (a knife) were seized from the suspect, who had hid them in his rented room.

On a lead given by Mansab, one more body part of the victim was recovered from another section of Pinyari Canal, the CIA officer said.

An interrogation with Adnan and his family members was also under way as Hina’s father, Mohammed Siddiq Janjua, had lodged an FIR against them on May 15 at the Baldia police station, the police officers said.

Confessing to his crime at the press conference, Mansab said that he had sought some money from Hina for the treatment of his mentally challenged son but she had declined. Rukhsana also admitted that she helped her husband by wiping and flushing out the blood in washroom and arranging gunny bags to dispose of the body.

Hina hailed from Chambar town of Tando Allahyar district and was wedded to Adnan Lodhi about one year ago.

Published in Dawn, May 19th, 2018