The Bulandshahr police on Tuesday night registered a case against Warisha’s mother and two brothers for wrongfully identifying a body, found on July 27 in a suitcase in Ghaziabad, as that of Warisha. She surfaced alive on August 3, making the police realise that there had been a goof-up.
The FIR was filed at Bulandshahr Kotwali on the night of August 4 under IPC Section 195a (threatening any person to give false evidence) on a complaint given by Afsar Ali, the uncle of Warisha’s husband Amir Khan.
Khan, his father and mother are already in jail in connection with a dowry death case lodged against them by Warisha’s family after she had gone missing on July 23 from her in-laws’ house in Bulandshahr and the unidentified body in the suitcase was identified as that of Warisha.
After Warisha surfaced on August 3, the police dropped the charges of dowry death from the FIR but the others charges remain.
“The latest FIR was filed on Khan’s uncle’s complaint. He has alleged that Warisha’s family pressured him to identify the body as that of Warisha, but he refused to do so,” said Diksha Singh, circle officer (city), Bulandshahr.
The FIR names Warisha’s brothers, Ismail and Israil, and their mother Bundo.
{{/usCountry}}The FIR names Warisha’s brothers, Ismail and Israil, and their mother Bundo.
{{/usCountry}}“Amir, his mother and my brother (Amir’s father) have been wrongfully implicated in the dowry case. After Warisha returned, the three are still in jail and we want them released. Amir and Warisha got married during the lockdown on June 1 and we took no dowry. An air cooler and an almirah were given by her family and there was no demand put forward by our family. She fled from our house on July 23 while everyone was away for work. Amir immediately called up her mother and she said that both the families should search for her,” Ali said.
He said it was Khan who approached the police with a missing person complaint after Warisha disappeared.
“My brother (Amir’s father) and I were in Jaipur at that time. Later, Warisha’s mother arrived with some influential people and threatened our family. We repeatedly told the police that the photos of Warisha and the dead woman did not match. But no one listened to us. On August 4, police told me that action is to be taken against Warisha’s family. So they prepared a written complaint and asked me to sign it. We also want the police to probe how Warisha fled Bulandshahr and where she was staying till August 3,” Ali said.
According to the police, Warisha fled Bulandshahr and came to Noida where she stayed for a while before leaving for her home in Aligarh on August 3.
Aquil Ahmad Afridi, Khan’s lawyer, said, “Now that the charges of dowry death have been dropped, we will apply for bail. We are also keeping tab on what Warisha says in her CrPC 164 statement before a magistrate.”
The post mortem of the body was conducted in Ghaziabad on July 29 and later it was handed over to Warisha’s family who took it to their hometown in Aligarh and buried it. The teeth, nail scrapings, fingerprints and viscera have been preserved for further probe.
“The woman was murdered approximately four or five days before the autopsy. Warisha’s brother Israil had signed the identification documents in Ismail’s presence,” a Ghaziabad officer said, requesting not to be named.
Warisha’s family could not be contacted as their phones remained switched off since Tuesday.
“As regards the allegations made by Khan’s uncle, we will look into it. The police will also submit to the court a detailed investigation report. The motive for identifying the body wrongly will also be found out,” said Praveen Kumar, inspector general (Meerut range).
The Ghaziabad police, meanwhile, had lodged a fresh case of murder and destruction of evidence in connection with the murder of the unidentified woman whose body is now buried in Aligarh.