Woman arrested for dismembering body of daughter-in-law over 'witchcraft allegations'

A woman in tehsil Daska of district Sialkot allegedly killed her daughter-in-law and chopped her body into pieces, accusing the latter of practising 'witchcraft'.  

The woman, identified as Sughran, with the help of her daughter and others, chopped victim Zara's body into pieces, sealed it in a sack and disposed of into a sewage drain.

In a statement given to police, the key suspect alleged that the daughter-in-law used to practice 'witchcraft' on her family, which she said, was suffering ever since her son got married to the victim.

Sughran also blamed the victim’s 'witchcraft practices' for the deaths that occurred in her family.

Meanwhile, the District Police Officer (DPO) Sialkot said that the female suspect called her paternal cousin, Naveed, from Lahore for assistance in killing the daughter-in-law.

The police registered a first information report against the suspects on the complaint of Shabbir Ahmed, the father of the victim.

“The accused first put the pillow over her face to suffocate her during her sleep and then dismembered the body. The parts of the body were sealed in a sack and thrown into the drain,” the official said.

The police, in a statement, said they have so far arrested the woman, her daughter Yasmeen and grandson Abdullah, adding that the father-in-law’s role in the murder is not clear yet.

Meanwhile, the police have seized a digital video recorder (DVR) as part of their efforts to unravel the events surrounding the incident.

In the CCTV footage, it was confirmed that the victim had not left the house on the day of the incident.

The police also obtained CCTV footage from the market, in which the woman and another suspect Naveed can be seen buying knives. All CCTV footage will be sent to the forensic lab for a photogrammetric test.