Islamabad police announced the arrest of two suspects, including a woman and an active police constable, in connection with the abduction and murder of 30-year-old property dealer Farukh Afzal in the Kohsar area. The main suspect and the woman were detained in separate operations, and the vehicle allegedly used in the kidnapping was recovered.
The victim was abducted late on May 4 from outside his residence in Sector F-6/1, as detailed in a First Information Report filed by his father. Initially, the case was registered under kidnapping for ransom after armed men forced Farukh into a car near his home around midnight.
The woman has been placed in judicial custody, while the second suspect, arrested in Swat, is currently in transit remand following court approval. Islamabad police SP City Ayaz Hussain stated that multiple investigative teams were deployed immediately after the incident, utilizing CCTV footage from Safe City Islamabad to trace the abduction vehicle.
Investigations revealed the vehicle moved toward the motorway and exited at Swabi Interchange. Although the car carried a fake number plate, it was equipped with an electronic tag that helped identify its registration. Further inquiries using the victim’s mobile phone data uncovered repeated calls from a number linked to a woman whose location was tracked to Swabi and Mardan during the incident.
The woman initially claimed connections to the victim and his associates, alleging that one of his friends had promised to marry her. She also stated she had been visiting her mother in Swabi due to high cholesterol on the night of the kidnapping, an explanation investigators found unconvincing given the nature of the ailment.
After requesting time to consider her position, the woman confessed to involvement in the abduction and murder. The suspects guided police to the victim’s body in Mardan district, where a post-mortem confirmed death caused by severe head injuries. However, the woman’s mother denied the accusations, maintaining her daughter’s innocence and asserting she was visiting due to illness.
Authorities revealed that the accused, alongside a serving Khyber Pakhtunkhwa police constable, orchestrated the crime out of personal enmity. The constable was brought to Islamabad by the woman before the abduction and provided with the victim’s whereabouts. Farukh was abducted from outside his home, transported to Swabi where he was tortured and killed, and his body discarded in a remote area near Mardan.
Following the crime, the constable traveled to Swat in the same vehicle, while the woman returned to Islamabad via taxi. Police continue to conduct raids to apprehend additional suspects connected to the case.
