KARACHI: A sessions’ court on Wednesday ordered exhumation of the body of a woman who was allegedly raped, murdered and then buried inside a shrine by its custodian.

       Police claimed to have arrested the caretaker of Hakim Syed Ahmed Shah shrine for sexually abusing the 55-year-old victim and murdering her in Saudabad.

       On Wednesday, the investigating officer filed an application before the additional district and sessions’ judge (East) seeking the court’s permission to exhume the body of the victim for a post-mortem examination.

       Accepting the application, the judge allowed the police to exhume the body of the victim in the presence of a judicial magistrate. It further directed the health department to constitute a four-member board to ascertain the actual cause of death of the victim, her family’s lawyer Syed Faisal Ali said.

       According to an interim charge sheet filed by the IO, the family of the victim reported on May 1 that the woman had left home in the afternoon but did not return while her mobile phone was also switched off.

       It added that police collected call data record of the victim that showed she made last call to the suspect, who is caretaker of Hakim Syed Ahmed Shah shrine in Saudabad.

       The charge sheet added that the suspect during interrogation claimed that the victim had visited him on the day of the incident and she was not feeling well as her blood pressure and sugar levels had purportedly shot up. The suspect further said that she fell unconscious and did not breathe, the charge sheet quoted him as saying, adding that the suspect became afraid to inform anyone about the incident and buried her body inside a room on the shrine’s premises and then cemented the floor so that no one would notice it.

       The IO claimed that after his arrest the suspect led them to the place, where he had allegedly buried the woman.

       Published in Dawn, July 1st, 2021