The body of Wajiha Swati, a US citizen of Pakistani origin who went missing from Rawalpindi in mid-October, has been found, police said on Saturday.
Rawalpindi City Police Officer Sajid Kiani, addressing a press conference, said that the case was under investigation and the police would not divulge too much detail at this point.
Kiyani did reveal some aspects that came to light during investigations, such as Wajiha arriving in Pakistan on October 16 and being received by her former husband Rizwan Habib.
He went on to say that three people – Habib, his father and their accomplice – had been arrested in connection with the case.
The CPO said that Wajiha’s body was found from Lakki Marwat’s Pizu area and that it was being brought to Islamabad. He said that further investigations were underway and more arrests were expected.
The police officer said the probe team gathered sufficient evidence after which the arrests were made. He added that the US embassy sought details from the police owing to Wajiha being a US citizen. “How the murder was carried out and what weapon was used is yet to be ascertained,” the CPO said.
The CPO said the high-profile case was investigated in several cities and after a thorough examination of evidence police teams arrested accused Rizwan Habib. He further said that the US embassy had also shared its information with the Punjab Police, while there was no pressure on the police to investigate the case.
Earlier in the day, sources within the police claimed that the woman’s ex-husband, Rizwan Habib, had confessed to killing her. Habib “confessed to his crime” during police interrogation, the sources said.
They said that Wajiha came to Pakistan from England on October 16 to resolve property disputes with her ex-husband. The woman was murdered the same day she arrived in Rawalpindi, they added.
A case relating to her abduction was registered at Morgah Police Station in Rawalpindi on the complaint of her son. According to reports, Habib said that he had killed Wajiha on October 16 and buried her body in Hangu.
On the directions of Rawalpindi RPO, a police team was sent to Hangu to recover the body.
DPO Ikramullah Khan said that the police arrested Habib’s father Friday night from Hangu on charges of aiding and abetting the murder.
On December 23, the Lahore High Court Rawalpindi Bench’s Justice Raja Shahid Mehmood Abbasi had ordered the CPO to recover Wajiha soon; otherwise the court would summon the Punjab Police inspector general. The court had ordered the police to present her in court after recovering her.
The Rawalpindi police arrested Habib and produced him before judicial magistrate Zaheer Safdar. The court handed over the accused to the police on a four-day physical remand.
Punjab Chief Minister Sardar Usman Buzdar has appreciated the performance of Rawalpindi police team for solving the
murder case. He said the investigation team led by the CPO solved the high-profile case in a professional manner. The police officers and officials brought the case to its logical end and ensured the rule of law by arresting the accused, he said.
