A young couple, which eloped around eight months ago, was slaughtered by relatives of the girl in the name of honour in a rented house at Sarshar Town in the Hanjerwal Police Station precincts on Tuesday.
Police believe that the couple was killed by the girl’s brothers who had been searching for them for the last eight months. The deceased were identified as 27-year-old Nadeem Akhtar and 23-year-old Nageena Malik, a resident of Talla Gang, Chakwal. House owner Muhammad Waqas said that Nadeem rented his house around three days ago and shifted to the place along with their luggage only a day before. He said that his father received an anonymous call that his tenants had been murdered and their bodies were lying in their house. Waqas said that they informed police, which reached the spot and removed the bodies to the city morgue for autopsy.
The young couple was later identified as Nadeem and Nageena from their identity cards, which police recovered from their luggage. Police also recovered cellular phone of Nadeem from the spot and from his family came to know about the couple’s story. Nadeem’s family accused Nageena’s brothers of killing the couple and claimed that heirs of Nageena were searching for the couple since they had eloped and a couple of weeks ago, Nageena’s brothers somehow came to know that Nadeem’s family was in contact with both of them.
Nadeem’s family said that Nageena’s brothers pressurised them to give them the address where the couple was living, which they later provided to Nageena’s brothers, after taking an oath on the Holy Quran. Nadeem’s family claimed that Nageena’s brothers promised them that they will not harm the couple in presence of dozens of locals of the couple’s native village.
Nadeem’s family claimed that since then brothers of Nageena were in contact with them and Nageena’s family also forced the couple to start a new life in a rented house located in Sarshar Town, Nageena’s brothers were affording all expanses in this regard as a dowry. Police said that circumstantial evidences implied that the unidentified killers tied the victims with clothes and later slaughtered them. According to police statements, houses of Nageena’s family were reportedly locked in Tilagang, which further confirmed that the gruesome incident was planned and executed by brothers of the girl.
Hanjerwal Assistant Superintendent of Police (ASP) Shaista Rehman told Pakistan Today that police had not registered a case yet.