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Srinagar: Jammu and Kashmir police on Monday arrested Mohammad Iqbal Khatana onn the charges of murdering his minor daughter in Zab-Khurhama area of Kupwara.
The girl’s body was found with the throat slit in a nearby shed on Wednesday, on 29 March evening.
As per the police statement, here is the sequence of events that lead to the murder of the minor girl are as under:
At around 4:15 pm, Mohammad Iqbal Khatana, a driver of passenger vehicle, reached home from daily work. Till 6 pm, he finished doing household work and splitting fire-wood.
After the argument, Khatana went to the kitchen, hid a kitchen-knife in his bosom, and left the house saying that he has to fix his punctured stepney tyre. He intended to kill himseld, the police claimed.
Uzma Iqbal, the minor daughter, followed her father and asked for 5 rupees. Iqbal gave her a 10 rupees note. Iqbal’s wife also followed him upto the courtyard, however, Uzma followed her father upto the main-road.
It added that Iqbal Khatana took Uzma in his vehicle, and reached Harden Road crossing, then to sewer through the link road and at 7:15 pm and reached Khurhama Bus-Stand, “where he halted till 8:10 pm, waiting for Isha azaan, so that the street gets de-peopled, making it convenient to kill himself”.
As people left for Taraweeh, he drove his vehicle further to Her-Khurhama near a transformer, where he halted the vehicle. “There, out of mental anguish due to domestic issues with his wife, he suffocated Uzma for around 2-3 minutes, as a result of which Uzma died on spot. The incident happened at at around 8:20 pm,” the police said in a statement.
“Iqbal placed the dead body in the fire-wood shed in supine position (chest facing upwards) and then using the knife he slit her throat, so that the inmates of the houses adjacent to the fire-wood shed are put to blame, saving his skin,” it read.
As per the statement, since the knife wasn’t quite sharp, and his hands were trembling out of fear and remorse, when he placed the knife on the throat and began to cut, it slide down and the throat was slit below the first mark. “Blood gushed out and its spatters got on his hands, sleeves and the bottom part of his pants, as he was in bent-position with the hands and legs close to the dead body, while carrying out the inhumane act of slitting the throat.”
Then Iqbal along with few other persons reached PP Khurhama in his vehicle to lodge missing report of Uzma.
The police after investigating the matter arrested Iqbal Khatana on Monday.—(Agencies)