Ahmedabad: A woman was allegedly murdered in an honour killing in Gujarat’s Sakhrej by her father and brother after a video of her with a man was widely circulated on social media.
The M Division Traffic Police on Tuesday, September 8, transferred the case to Sakhrej police station after an investigation of an August 12 accident revealed it was likely a murder, planned by the father and son.
Brother claims accident in complaint
According to the Traffic Police, after the alleged accident, 38-year-old Habil Farooq said that while driving a two-wheeler with his sister, Sofia Farooq, a vehicle hit them. He said in his complaint that the accident occurred around 11 pm when they were heading towards their house in Sakhrej. The vehicle sped away after hitting them from behind, leaving Sofia with grievous head injuries, he had claimed.
She was admitted to Gujarat Medical Education & Research Society (GMERS) Sola Civil Hospital, where they pronounced her dead at 12:05 am on August 13.
However, during the investigation, traffic police discovered that no such accident occurred on that day. “We found that the deceased’s brother, 38, and father, 56, earlier reprimanded Sofia over a video of her purportedly interacting with a youth three months ago,” a statement by the Traffic Police read.
The police said that the duo had reprimanded Sofia and opposed her continued interactions with boys.
Sofia hit on the head thrice by hammer
They later conspired together, got a metal hammer from their godown, and took her to an area near Gheljipura village. “There, one of the suspects (brother) hit her on the head with the hammer, causing her death. He then gave a false complaint about an “accident” to mislead the police,” the police said. Habil had reportedly hidden the hammer in his pants, authorities said.
Habil allegedly struck Sofia on the head thrice with the hammer, while Farooq helped him. The two accused later took her to an isolated stretch in the village and created the fake accident scenario, Inspector UB Dhakhada said.
Postmortem reveals death by brain haemorrhage
The inspector told the media that the two suspects chose the “accident spot,” thinking there were no closed-circuit television cameras in the area. “However, there was a roadside camera. The footage revealed that there was no accident at 11 pm on August 12,” Dhakada said.
The postmortem report also showed that the victim died due to brain haemorrhage caused by injury, he added.
The Sakhrej police confirmed that the two men have since been detained and a murder case registered. “We will try to recover the murder weapon,” the police said.
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