Excelsior Correspondent
SRINAGAR, June 9: Police solved a mysterious murder of a person by arresting his wife and her paramour, a Moulvi in Nowgam area of Srinagar.
A Police spokesman said that an intensive investigation by police team led by SHO Nowgam, Showket Ahmad Shah under the supervision of SDPO Panthachowk & SP City West has helped Nowgam police to crack the murder of one Abiroo Shafi Bhat of Khwajapora, Nowgam, by his wife and her paramour, a firebrand cleric (Moulvi), on the intervening night of March 10.
He said there were various red flags that made the family members increasingly suspicious about the wife of deceased. From the third day of her husband’s death, she had been using her phones a lot, which was thought of unbecoming for a widow. The family’s suspicion intensified when the co-accused in the murder, Moulvi Tanveer Bhat (Lelhari), a resident of Lelhar, Pulwama, visited the family on the third day of Abiroo’s death and delivered a moving sermon to the mourners. “According to the family, the Moulvi then went to the women’s tent to condole the widow and her mother. The family said he had hugged them both,” he said
The spokesman said as the family’s suspicion grew, they had called the woman’s father, brother and uncles and talked about her behaviour. They also told them about certain events in the past that pointed to her extra-marital indiscretions. Her family members were specifically asked to inquire from her the excessive phone use and other markers that raised suspicion. The family of the deceased also paid her Rs 5 lakh as the one-eighth of the inheritance of her husband.
He said on May 14, Muhammad Shafi Bhat, the father of the deceased filed a complaint with the Police Station Nowgam suspecting foul play in the death of his son. On the basis of this complaint, Nowgam police started inquest proceedings under section 174 CrPC.
He said during proceedings, the family requested Deputy Commissioner Srinagar for exhumation of the body. On May 26, a team of forensic experts from the Forensic Department of the Government Medical College Srinagar and doctors from Health Department exhumed the body and conducted the autopsy. Although the final report is yet to be received but the initial findings revealed that the prima facie cause of death is strangulation. The police then accordingly registered a case FIR No. 52/2018 under 302 RPC and started investigation.
“The police called Moulvi Tanveer for questioning. Initially he denied everything . However, a few days before his murder, the deceased had passed a certain phone number to his cousin and asked him to fetch its details. The cousin shared the same number with the police, which was traced to Moulvi. Further investigation revealed that the wife of the deceased had been using the SIM of one Suhail of Lelhar Pulwama, who happens to be the cousin of Moulvi. This SIM card was provided to her by Moulvi and she used it to communicate with her marital and maternal homes. Moulvi after the murder had gone into hiding and the duo had changed their SIM cards. Moulvi had obtained a new SIM card in the name of one Rouf Sadiq of Nowgam for ease of communication with the lady. Finally, when Moulvi was arrested, he confessed to the crime,” the spokesman said
He said during investigation it came to the fore that Asifa, wife of deceased was caught red handed by her husband while talking to Moulvi on phone, a day before he gave the number to one of his cousins for fetching details. The wife feeling annoyed & angered at this behavior, proceeded to her maternal home and called up Moulvi. The duo hatched conspiracy to kill Abiroo Shafi and as per plan the wife kept her minor girl child at maternal home. The murder plan was executed between 12 and 12.30 am on the night of March 10 after the wife gave a glass of milk stupefied with sedatives to the deceased. The Moulvi jumped over the wall of the house and entered inside the room through a window, which had been left open by the wife of deceased. When Abiroo was in deep slumber and too sedated to resist, Moulvi strangulated him with the assistance of deceased’s wife Asifa. The moulvi stayed in the house till early morning before jumping out of the same wall. He took train from Nowgam Railway Station for his home at Pulwama.
“In their confession, the two accused said that they were planning to marry and had been in relationship for more than a year. The Moulvi, who was very popular in the locality, used to deliver Friday sermons in the nearby mosque and the deceased had invited him for lunch on several occasions. The deceased had probably got a whiff of the illicit relationship between the two and had informed the local head of Jamiat-e-Ahli Hadees, Abdul Qayoom about Moulvi’s behavior. The Moulvi, who taught in a private school in Pampore, had been asked not to deliver sermons thereafter,” he said
He further said that the wife of the deceased was also arrested and she too confessed to the conspiracy and murder. The lady accused has been sent to judicial custody at Central Jail Srinagar while as Moulvi is still under Police custody with Police Station Nowgam.
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