RAWALPINDI (The Thursday Times) — A Rawalpindi court on Saturday sent Ahsan Tahir, the husband of television anchor Rabia Ahsan, back to police custody for four more days and ordered a polygraph test on Monday, as the judge pressed him on how the pistol that killed her was fired.
Rabia, 41, an anchor at 92 News, was found shot dead at the couple’s home on Adiala Road on November 8. Tahir was taken into custody the same day and has been in police custody since.
Senior Civil Judge Nasrullah Wattoo granted the extension after the investigating officer asked for seven more days so that Tahir could be taken to the Punjab Forensic Science Agency in Lahore for the test. The court order called the request “reasonable and genuine for the completion of the investigation” and directed police to produce Tahir again on November 18.
“Let the polygraph test be done, it is also for the suspect’s benefit,” the judge said, adding that the “real situation” would come out once it was carried out. He called Rabia’s death “a very big family tragedy”. Tahir’s lawyer did not object to the test.
Questions about the pistol
The judge asked Tahir whether a magazine had been loaded in the pistol, and if not, how a bullet had been fired. Asked where he had taken the weapon from, Tahir said he had taken it out of a cupboard to clean it.
“Even an empty pistol should not be kept at home,” the judge said.
Tahir has told investigators that the weapon went off by accident, police sources have said. Police say they are examining every possibility and have not publicly established how the gun was discharged.
The case so far
The murder case was registered on the complaint of Rabia’s brother, Khurram Ahmed, under Section 302 of the Pakistan Penal Code and the Punjab arms law. According to the first information report, Rabia’s mother and sister were in the lawn at about 2:30pm when they heard a shot from the bedroom. Her sister ran inside and found her on the floor, with Tahir holding a pistol.
The report says Tahir told police he had fired the weapon. Police said he could not produce a licence for it. Rawalpindi’s city police officer said the body had a gunshot wound below the neck.
A day after the shooting, Ahmed said he wanted to withdraw the complaint. He said he had filed it in shock, that he believed the shooting was an accident, and that the couple had not been in any dispute. The case has stayed with police, and the court has kept extending Tahir’s remand.
Tahir is a grade-18 officer at the Overseas Pakistanis Foundation. The couple had two daughters.
Rabia’s death drew an outpouring of grief from fellow journalists. First Lady Aseefa Bhutto-Zardari called for a “thorough, impartial and transparent investigation to establish the facts”.
