June 12, 2024
By Kamran Ali
NOWSHERA
Additional sessions judge granted an interim bail before arrest (BBA) to two accused charged of murdering Pashto drama actress Khushboo. The police found Khushboo’s dead body in the fields on June 10. Her brother has Shehryar accused two men namely Shaukat and Falak Niaz of killing his sister.
According to Shehryar, the two accused had repeatedly warned the actress against performing at music concerts, and had threatened her with dire consequences.
Khushboo’s sister, Muneeba, told Voicepk that her sister was married to an Afghan but had sought a divorce. Later, Khushboo developed a friendship with the accused Shaukat during concerts. “They met in a music concert and became friends. Though Shaukat proposed Khushboo many times, she refused to marry him,” said Muneeba.
She added that after Khushboo refused to marry Shaukat, he started threatening her of dire consequences. They approached the police to stop Shaukat from imposing any pressure on Khushboo. Shaukat promised in writing to not harm or pressurize her anymore.
According to Muneeba, Khushboo was invited on the pretext of birthday party because she used to go for parties on every weekend, however, “next morning we received the information of Khusboo’s murder”.
According to SHO Akbarpura Niaz Muhammad, police were conducting raids to apprehend the suspects involved in the crime. However, the court granted BBA to the accused and now the police cannot arrest them. “Next date for hearing of BBA application is tomorrow, and if court rejects, accused would be arrested, and later police will pray to magistrate court for physical remand of accused to investigate futher,” he explained.
Muneeba also accused police of pressuring them to amend FIR and discharge Shaukat and Falak from the case.
Khushboo’s brother and sister demand the police and courts to grant justice by punishing the culprit.
Local artistes believe that it is not the first case where a performer has been killed. Many other performers, including Ghazala Javeed and Rabia Tabasum, have been killed in the past few years.