After the death of anchor Rabia Ahsan in Rawalpindi, Punjab province of Pakistan, her husband has been taken into police custody for two days. However, Rabia's family has decided to withdraw the murder case registered against her. Whereas earlier it was registered as a murder case on the complaint of Rabia's own brother.
According to the police, the body of Rabia Ahsan was found from her house in Gulshanabad area of Rawalpindi on 8 November. He was shot in the lower part of his neck.
A murder case was registered against Rabia Ahsan's husband on the complaint of her brother. According to the police, he was immediately taken into custody. The police also recovered a pistol from a room in the house.
Punjab Information Minister Azma Bukhari said in a statement that during the investigation, Rabia Ahsan's husband had told the police that the pistol had been fired by mistake.
At the same time, the police presented the husband of Rabia Ahsan, who was arrested in this case, in the concerned court on Monday. The police had asked the court to keep him in custody. The court has approved two days' police custody.
Meanwhile, the Namaz-e-Janaza of Rabia Ahsan was performed at Jamia Masjid Gulshanabad.
Rabia Ahsan's brother Khurram Ahmed is the complainant, although he has now told the BBC that his family has decided to drop the case. He said he, his mother and sister agreed that Rabia's death was an accident.
Khurram told that he himself was not present there at the time of the incident. However, his mother and sister were present in the same house. He said that the person working in the house was also present in that room.
Khurram Ahmed told, "The accused told me that he was taking out clothes from the cupboard. There was a pistol there and he was holding it in his hand. Then suddenly a bullet was fired, which hit Rabia near her neck and she died on the spot."
He said that when he reached there after getting information about the incident, his mother and sister told him, "Before the incident, both the husband and wife had gone to the room. Before that he was with them in the courtyard and no fight was seen between them."
Khurram Ahmed said he knew the accused "very well" and that he was a "respectable person". He told that the accused used to work as Deputy Director in Overseas Pakistanis Foundation.
On November 8, on the complaint of Rabia Ahsan's brother Khurram, a case of murder under section 302 was registered at Sadar Beruni police station over the incident that took place at their house. According to the FIR, the complainant was told over the phone that Rabia Ahsan had been shot by her husband.
Initial investigation by the police has revealed that due to change in weather, while keeping winter clothes in the cupboard instead of summer clothes, a 30 bore pistol was found among the clothes. According to the initial statement of a domestic worker present in the house, the husband had a pistol in his hand at the time of the shooting.
According to the initial post-mortem report, Rabia Ahsan was shot in the lower front part of her neck, due to which she died. The 30 bore pistol found from the spot did not have a license. Forensic evidence and samples related to the incident have been sent to the lab for testing.
41 year old Rabia Ahsan was associated with Channel 92. There she used to host the program 'Muqabil' with journalist Aamir Mateen. Journalist Fariha Idris wrote on social media platform X that she was "deeply shocked and saddened" to hear the news of Rabia Ahsan's death.
