by Faiqa Masoodi and Aala Bukhari
SRINAGAR: The gruesome murder of a 30-year-old woman in Soibug, Budgam, has left Kashmir in shock and terror. The young lady was supposed to be a bride later this year but the police could not locate her body in a single piece. They assembled it from different places as the killer mason had chopped her body into various pieces.
The incident happened on March 7, when the victim, went for computer coaching in Soibug but never returned home. After graduation, she was picking computing skills from a local computer coaching centre to become employable. She was the eldest of three siblings.
“She was supposed to return home by 3 pm but she did not,” one of her relatives said. “The family waited till late in the evening after failing to locate her at the institute, which by then, was closed.”
Her brother, Tanveer Ahmad Khan, reported her missing to the Police Post Soibug on March 8, as they failed to locate her, and an investigation was initiated.
According to the victim’s family, she was engaged by choice and was not in any kind of relationship.
“We did all the basic investigations from all angles and then we started looking at suspects,” SSP Budgam Tahir Geelani told reporters. After interrogating several suspects, the police arrested a tile mason, identified as Shabir Ahmad Wani, son of Abdul Aziz Wani, a resident of Mohanpora Ompora. The 45-year-old married man had worked as a tile mason in the victim’s house and was given free space to work as the family treated him like a brother. A master mason, residents said he had been working in the area for a long time and was reputed to be a good tile mason.
For all these days, Shabir proved a hard nut. “Finally last (Saturday) night, he admitted to the killing,” Gilani said. The police stated that during interrogation, Shabir Ahmad Wani confessed to kidnapping and murdering the victim. He chopped off her head, sliced her body into pieces, and dumped them at different spots in Budgam to hide his crime. On his disclosures, police recovered one part of her body from the railway bridge and another from Sebdan. “The investigations are still at initial stage and we have secured the crime scene,” Gilani said. The police remained tight-lipped over the motive of the murder indicating the investigations are still in progress.
Gilani said the mason had buried her skull in his courtyard. The arms and legs were located in a water tank not far away from his home. The rest of the body was buried near the railway bridge at Sedna, the officer said. “He had used a knife to chop off her body,” the officer said.
Interestingly, Shabir is a married and settled man with two kids. It was not immediately known if he had sought her hand in marriage earlier. The family said she was getting married in August to a person of her choice. One unconfirmed report said Shabir’s wife is suffering from cancer.
The news of this heinous crime spread like wildfire, and protests erupted in various places, including Budgam. The locals and family members are urging the LG Governor administration and SSP Budgam to hang the culprit as a lesson for those who dare to commit such crimes.
This brutal incident has shocked and traumatized the entire community, and people are wondering who will be the next victim. SSP Budgam, Syed Tahir Geelani, stated that further investigation into the case is ongoing.
Details regarding the murder reveal that the victim’s family became suspicious of Shabir Ahmad Wani’s involvement in the crime as he had gone missing after the victim’s disappearance. They informed the police, who subsequently began their investigation.
During the investigation, the police found evidence that led them to suspect Shabir Ahmad Wani’s involvement in the murder. They detained him for interrogation, during which he confessed to the crime.
The police have since arrested Shabir and charged him with murder. They have also recovered all of the victim’s body parts from different locations in Budgam.
The incident has raised concerns about the safety of women in the region, with many calling for stricter laws and harsher punishments for those who commit such heinous crimes. The local authorities have assured the community that they will take all necessary steps to ensure the safety and security of the residents.
Police have handed over the body parts to the family for burial. However, the elders ensured that close family members could not access the mutilated body. For most of the day, the debate amid massive protests was about how to manage the burial of the sliced body. People were crying over the gory state of mind of the killer. Her family was inconsolable.
