Police in Toba Tek Singh are searching for a local man who allegedly smothered his sister to death using a pillow earlier this month. A video of the gruesome incident went viral, prompting the police into action.
Police said that 22-year-old Maria, a resident of Chak 477 JB Allowal in Toba Tek Singh, had been smothered to death by her brother, Faisal, as their father, Abdul Sattar, and others kept watch. The incident reportedly took place between the night of March 17 and 18.
They then buried the girl's body to conceal their crime. A video of the incident, where the murderer is seen hunched over his sister committing the deed as others watched on. The murderer is then offered water by his father after committing the foul deed and having denied the victim a last drink.
The police said that they have lodged a case for murder against Faisal. At the same time, they have named Abdul Sattar and Maria's other brother, Shehbaz, in the FIR and are searching for the suspects.
Toba Tek Singh District Police Officer Ibadat Nisar suspected that the prime suspect, Faisal and Abdul Sattar, allegedly sexually assaulted Maria, and when she became pregnant, they killed her.
The district police added that after obtaining the necessary permissions, the police exhumed the body and sent it for an autopsy to ascertain the cause of death and the body's condition at the time of death.
On Friday, Punjab Prosecutor General Farhad Ali Shah stated that the case status had been officially elevated to a "high-profile" case.
As a result, Toba Tek Singh's district police officer (DPO), superintendent of police (SP), and district prosecutor have been summoned for a meeting on April 1 to streamline the investigation and evidence collection in the case and ensure it is watertight when it reaches the relevant court.
Tortured to death?
As doctors conducted an autopsy, Maria's elder sister Kosar told the media that she was called at around 1am by her brother that Maria was severely ill.
However, when she got there, Kosar said Maria had passed away. She added that they then started preparing Maria for her last rites, during which they learnt that she did not die of natural causes; rather, she was murdered.
"There were dark marks around her neck; she was strangled to death apart from bruises on one side of her body while blood was flowing from her nostrils," she said, adding that her sister had been killed mercilessly.