RAWALPINDI: A US national of Pakistan origin murdered by her former husband in Rawalpindi was choked to death and also had two knife wounds on her neck, her post-mortem examination showed on Sunday.

Rizwan Habib Bangash, 29, confessed to killing his former wife — 47-year-old Wajiha Farooq Swati — and burying her body in Lakki Marwat, Rawalpindi City Police Officer (CPO) Sajid Kiani disclosed on Saturday. Her body was later excavated from a house in Lakki Marwat district.

Ms Swati’s jacket and phone have also been recovered by the police, but they are still working to recover the murder weapon and apprehend other individuals involved in moving and burying her body.

Knife wounds found on neck; her jacket, phone recovered; suspect’s physical remand extended

On the other hand, a judicial magistrate extended the physical remand of the main suspect, Rizwan Bangash, for three days on Sunday and also remanded his father and his employee in police custody for three days.

Both the father of the suspect and his employee had facilitated the transfer of her body from Rawalpindi to the burial place.

The police have requested the judicial magistrate to extend the physical remand of Bangash as they had to recover the car in which her body wrapped in a piece of carpet was shifted to Lakki Marwat was yet to be recovered by the police.

However, the police have recovered the mobile phone of Ms Wajiha, her jacket and some other things, while efforts were under way to arrest other people involved in her murder and dumping her body.

Nobody from Wajiha’s family had come to the police to claim her body so far, though her brother and mother lived in Rawalpindi and her body was kept in the mortuary of District Headquarters Hospital.

Sources privy to the investigation revealed that there was no religious motive for the murder. However, the police suspect that Bangash could be involved in drugs trafficking and the police would investigate the sources of his income.

Ms Swati landed at Islamabad airport with her nephew on October 16 at around 6.30am and went to Bangash’s house in Defence Housing Authority Phase-I where she slept until 2pm. Meanwhile, the suspect sent his three servants out of his home for some chores.

The sources said Ms Swati was probably murdered between 2pm and 5pm, probably after an argument with the suspect. The suspect wrapped her body in a piece of carpet and put it in the boot of his car and left for Lakki Marwat with his servant.

The suspect had been in contact with his father, who arrived in Jhand from his native town Hangu where Bangash handed over the car containing the body to shift it to Lakki Marwat where his employee Sultan lived.

On reaching Lakki Marwat, they dumped her body in the courtyard of Sultan’s sister’s house after digging a six-foot deep ditch. Later, a concrete floor was laid to hide the crime.

On the other hand, Bangash returned to his house in Rawalpindi from Jhand and started preparing a plan to cover up the crime. He took two weeks to consult lawyers and educate his servants, telling them how to deal with the incident in case the police approached them, the sources said.

“The murder suspect was so confident that he had continuously been dodging the then investigating police team despite being investigated in connection with the disappearance of the woman,” the sources said, adding that the Rawalpindi CPO — who assumed office earlier this month — directed the police to arrest Bangash and interrogate him.

Despite being in police custody, he remained confident and did not disclose anything. However, he later confessed to the crime when his father was produced before him in the lock-up after being brought from Hangu.

When contacted, the police chief said that there was no religious aspect behind Ms Swati’s murder. The suspect was against her socialisation and often the couple had a quarrel over property worth millions of rupees which she had transferred in his name.

“The police will also investigate the sources of [Bangash’s] income, including his involvement in drugs [trafficking],” the CPO said.

Published in Dawn, December 27th, 2021