by Babra Wani
SRINAGAR: A harrowing story of love turned to betrayal and violence has left the community in South Kashmir’s Anantnag district in shock. The brutal murder of a six-months-pregnant woman, whose remains were discovered in a cowshed, has exposed a chilling crime that unfolded months ago but only recently came to light.
Shabnam, a resident of Halmullah, Haapatnaad—a remote hamlet in Anantnag—was strangled to death by her husband, Imran Khan, in October last year. Four months later, the gruesome details of the crime have shattered the peace of this small village. Imran and his mother were arrested.
The horror began when Shabnam’s body, buried outside her home, was exhumed and later burnt. A relative of the victim, speaking to this reporter, recounted the grim sequence of events: “She was strangulated with a rope. Then buried outside her home. Later, her body was dug out from the grave.” The revelation has left not only her family but also the wider community grappling with shock and disbelief.
In an attempt to conceal the crime, Imran reported Shabnam missing at the Aishmuqam police station on 6 October last year. According to police records, he claimed his wife had disappeared two days earlier, on 4 October.
A senior police official, speaking on condition of anonymity, detailed the investigation. “Imran filed a missing person report in October, stating his wife had gone missing. We launched a thorough search, gathering evidence and information from various sources,” the official said. Through sustained questioning, Imran eventually confessed to the murder on Friday.
The police have now registered a case under FIR No. 1, 2025, invoking Section 103, 61 Part II DNS. The Station House Officer (SHO) overseeing the investigation has assured that all efforts are being made to ensure a comprehensive inquiry.
The investigation into the brutal murder of Shabnam has unveiled harrowing details, painting a grim picture of jealousy, mistrust, and violence. Police have recovered only a few strands of hair and fragments of bone from the site where Shabnam’s remains were found. These sparse remains are all that is left of the young woman, who was six months pregnant when she was killed.
A senior police official revealed that Imran Khan, the accused, confessed to murdering his wife after harbouring suspicions about her fidelity. “The culprit admitted that he doubted his wife’s loyalty,” the officer stated. “He believed she was involved with someone else because she appeared to spend a lot of time on her phone. Acting on this suspicion, he first strangled her, then buried her body, only to exhume and burn it later.”
The police have been piecing together the case through extensive questioning of locals. “We interrogated everyone in the locality,” the officer said. “It was during this process that suspicions about Imran began to solidify. When confronted, he eventually broke down and confessed to the crime.”
While the case has stirred a whirlwind of rumours, one persistent claim—that Shabnam was Imran’s third wife—has been dismissed by the authorities. “Shabnam was his second wife,” the official clarified. “They already had a son together and were expecting their second child at the time of her death.”
The complexities of their marital history have added further layers to an already troubling story. Shabnam and Imran’s relationship began after they eloped, yet both carried unresolved ties from their previous marriages. Imran had not divorced his first wife, with whom he has two children. Meanwhile, Shabnam, too, remained legally married to her first husband, with whom she has a 12-year-old son.
As investigators continue to unravel the details of this tragic case, the community remains gripped by the shocking revelations of betrayal and violence that led to Shabnam’s death.
A Love Story Marred by Tragedy
Shabnam was still a teenager when her family arranged her marriage to a policeman. According to a close relative, the union was far from ideal. “She was very young, and her husband did not like her much,” the relative told this reporter.
Over a decade later, while still legally married to her first husband, Shabnam met Imran Khan. Their relationship quickly evolved into an intense love affair, culminating in an elopement and a second marriage. “It was a nikkah over nikkah for Shabnam,” the relative explained, adding that although her family eventually accepted the marriage, it remained a point of contention. “In our hearts, we always felt she had committed a sin. Her first husband refused to divorce her, even after repeated efforts by both families and the local community. They tried persuading him, arguing that her second marriage was illegitimate under Islamic law, but he would not listen.”
The relative described Shabnam’s first marriage as deeply troubled. “He hated her. They never got along. When she married Imran, her first husband would come to fight and abuse her. There were physical altercations. He said he would never leave her and wanted to teach her a lesson.”
For Shabnam, the decision to leave her first marriage seemed justified. “She was illiterate and had no understanding of religious laws,” the relative explained. “She believed she was doing the right thing by leaving a toxic relationship and marrying Imran.” However, the fallout from this decision continued to haunt her. After her death, none of her former in-laws attended her funeral, and even her son, who still lives with her first husband, remained absent. Her first husband, who has since remarried, allegedly responded to any appeals for divorce with abuse and verbal altercations.
A Troubled Second Marriage
Shabnam and Imran lived peacefully for the first two years of their marriage. However, their relationship began to deteriorate, with arguments escalating to the point where Shabnam filed a domestic violence case against Imran. Despite this, the couple reconciled and appeared to rekindle their love. “After that, there were no reports of fights—at least not until the day she disappeared,” the relative said.
When Shabnam went missing, her family initially assumed she might have left voluntarily or fled again, given her history of fleeing her first marriage. “At first, we thought she had left on her own,” the relative said. “But Imran’s unusually quiet behaviour raised suspicions, prompting the police to investigate him. None of us could have imagined the horror that had unfolded in that house.”
Following intense questioning, Imran confessed to the murder. The relative recounted what they learned about the events leading to Shabnam’s death. “They had an argument, and he accused her of being involved with another man. Even if that were true, it would never justify such a heinous act. He not only killed his wife but also their unborn child.”
A Crime Concealed in Darkness
Imran strangled Shabnam with a rope inside their home, which police later recovered as evidence. He buried her body in a shallow grave in front of their house, but a foul smell emanating from the site forced him to exhume it days later. In a desperate attempt to conceal his crime, he transported her remains to a nearby cowshed, where he burned them with petrol. He then scattered the ashes and partially burned bones in a field and buried the remaining fragments in the cowshed.
Despite Imran’s confession, his first wife has also been questioned by police, though he insists she was not involved in the murder. Shabnam’s family continues to grieve her loss and demand a thorough investigation. “Shabnam must have been in her early thirties,” the relative said. “We think she was killed on a Friday, but we still do not know for sure. Now we are trying to get her young son back so that we can raise him.”
