Nephew arrested for murdering wife of Pakistani spy who lived in old Delhi

Mumtaz Parveen, 51, was found dead inside her house in Delhi’s Chandni Mahal area. Her nephew, who lived in Meerut, killed her to take revenge on her. He told police that Mumtaz Parveen was her maternal aunt, and was trying to frame his family in a murder case registered in Bara Hindu Rao

Over a week after Pakistani national Mumtaz Parveen, 51, was found dead inside her house in Delhi’s Chandni Mahal area, the police have arrested her nephew from Uttar Pradesh’s Meerut for murdering her, senior police officers privy to the investigation said on Sunday.

Nephew arrested for murdering wife of Pakistani spy who lived in old Delhi

The police found Parveen’s decomposed body from her house on September 4, and were investigating the case as that of a murder.

It was only after her mysterious death that neighbour got to know that Parveen was a Pakistani national who was once arrested for spying, circulating counterfeit currency, and helping operatives of Pakistan’s Inter-Services Intelligence. She was also convicted in related charges in 2007, but was released from the jail a year later on health grounds.

Deputy commissioner of police (central) Jasmeet Singh said the accused has been identified as Farman (22). “Keeping in the view the sensitive nature of the case, the special staff of central district was tasked to crack the case. The post-mortem examination showed three deep, sharp cuts behind her head. During further investigation, the CCTV footage was obtained from the locality, and it was noticed that on August 30, a person was moving around suspiciously in the street where she [Parveen] lived. When more CCTV footage was scanned, it was found that at about 8pm the person de-boarded an auto rikshaw and entered the street. It was seen that after half an hour he was again walking back and forth in the street. However, his face was covered,” said Singh.

An officer said that the relatives and neighbours along with other suspects were interrogated thoroughly and their call records were obtained but nothing suspicious was found. Police said, on 12 September, a secret information came in from one of their informers.

“Subsequently, raids were conducted in Meerut and the culprit was nabbed. Farman has confessed his involvement in the case and said that his ‘khala’ (maternal aunt) Parveen tried to frame him and his family in a double murder case registered at Bara Hindu Rao police station two months ago. They also have property dispute with Parveen. Hence, he killed her,” the officer said.

HT reported on September 8 that a copy of Parveen’s 2000 interrogation report after her arrest by Delhi Police’s Special Cell said she was born in Meerut and studied up to Class 5. At 15, she married a man named Sultan from Meerut and had three children with him. But by 1989, they had separated.

The report said Parveen first visited Pakistan with her mother around 1990 to meet her maternal aunt in Karachi. There she married a man named Abdul Wahab Khan, a senior leader of the Muhajir Qaumi Movement-Haqiqi. In 1993, she got Pakistani citizenship. But that marriage also lasted only six years because she was unable to have a child.

In 1996, while visiting India, Parveen met Kamran Gawhar, an ISI spy deported twice from India, onboard the Samjhauta Express. The police report says Gawhar, during this trip, convinced her to stay with him.

On January 24, 2000, when she was arrested with Gawhar, police had also found fake currency of the face value of ₹8,000 on her. Police records show that Gawhar had entered India in 1994 and was deported in April 1999. He re-entered India under a false name in July 1999 and was deported in late 2000.