HYDERABAD, Nov 3: The body of Samia Detho — who was murdered in the Yousaf Shah graveyard with her husband on Aug 23 for marrying against the will of their families — could not be exhumed on Friday because of conflicting statements by the suspects and confusion among the investigation officers, as both parties squabbled among themselves in the presence of the judicial magistrate who was supervising the process.

The police claimed that Samia’s father, Ahmed Detho, confessed to killing her with the help of her brother and five others.

Ahmed surrendered to the police last Tuesday and told them that seven people, including Samia’s brother, had been present at the crime scene.

A medical board reached the Yusuf Shah graveyard with VIIIth Judicial Magistrate Aurangzeb Qazi for exhuming Samia’s body for an autopsy. The five suspects — Ahmed Detho, Raheem Detho, Sikandar Detho, Haji Detho and Bilawal Qambrani — were also present to help the police identify Samia’s grave.

When the party reached the graveyard, Haji Detho, who had first identified the grave, changed his statement and claimed to be drunk at the time of the murder. Another suspect, Raheem Detho, said that he had only identified the position of the grave because he had been beaten up by the police.

When a disagreement erupted between Sikandar and Haji, the police asked Samia’s father who denied knowing where the body was buried claiming that the others had disposed of it.

Meanwhile, DSP Ejaz Bhatti, part of the investigation team, was of the opinion that the body should be exhumed anyway from the grave which was initially pointed out by Haji Detho. In case it turned out to be the wrong grave, he said, then the SHO and the DSP concerned should be held responsible.

DSP Bhatti claimed that SHO Pabban police station Ali Mohammad Bajeer agreed with him and requested the judicial magistrate to exhume the body. However, the judicial magistrate refused and left.

The medical board would conduct the autopsy only after the body was officially handed over to the board members after being exhumed, said Dr Saleem Raza, the additional medical superintendent at the Liaquat University Hospital.

Samia was eight months pregnant when she was killed. Though her body was buried in the graveyard, the body of her husband, Ishtiaq Sheikh, was reported to be thrown in the jungle and devoured by animals.