Note: Some parts of the story might be disturbing for some readers.

The police in Sindh’s Sanghar district have ‘solved’ the murder mystery surrounding the killing of a Hindu woman, whose mutilated body was found near her home last month, and have arrested four suspects, including two warlocks or black magic practitioners.

The prime suspect has confessed to the brutal murder of Diya Bheel, police officers told a press conference on Saturday. Victim’s brother has also been arrested.

Ropoo Bheel, one of the male magic practitioners locally known as bhoopay, is the primary suspect.

“There was a breakthrough in the case when one of the accused confessed [about the murder],” Benazirabad DIG Younus Chandio said in a press conference in Sanghar. “There were doubts about him from the day one.”

Forty-four-year-old widow Diya Bheel – also spelled Daya Bheel in earlier reporting – was murdered and her mutilated body was found half a kilometer away from her house in a field in Deputy Sahab village, in Sindh’s Sanghar district on December 27, 2022.

Bheel’s children said that their mother had gone to pick up grass on the farm before her body was found cut into pieces with a sharp weapon. The head was severed off.

The gruesome murder shocked the entire Sindh province, which has the largest number of Hindus in Pakistan. PPP leader and Foreign Minister Bilawal Bhutto Zardari and Sindh Minister for Minority Affairs Giyanchand Essrani took the notice of the incident.

Male magic practitioners Ropoo Bheel, Loneo Bheel, Sajan Bheel, and the victim’s brother Diya Ram are the four suspects. They have also given confessional statements, the police said.

Chandio, flanked by Sanghar SSP Bashir Ahmed Brohi in the presser, said that the anti-terrorism court in Nawabshah has remanded the prime suspect into a five-day police custody.

A first information report was registered against unidentified people under Section 302 (punishment of qatl-i-amd) of the Pakistan Penal Code and sections 6 (terrorism) and 7 (punishment for acts of terrorism) of the Anti-Terrorism Act at the Sanjhoro Police Station on December 28, 2022.

“He [Roopo Bheel] used to be a resident of that area earlier. Then he moved to another place, 15 to 20 kilometres away, three to four years ago,” Chandio said.

Bheel was first detained based on suspicion but he was released. When he was arrested again and interrogated, he coughed up everything, including the names of his accomplices who were arrested, the police said.

When asked why Diya Bheel’s body had been mutilated, the DIG quoted the confessions of the prime suspect. Such warlocks require human body parts for their magic as per their belief.

The Benazirabad DIG has explicitly shunned any impression from the Indian media that the woman was targeted because of her religion. “The four accused belong to the same community,” he said.

Bheel is one of the communities of Hindus in Sanghar. Kohli and Maguar are the other Hindu communities residing in Umerkot and Tharparkar areas.

Black magic was the purpose behind the grisly murder, according to the information the suspect has so far divulged to the police. A proper investigation would follow as soon as DNA results from forensic labs arrive and digital data is gathered.

What were the leads?

A comb of a woman led the police to the suspects. Police found hair believed to have been cut from Diya’s body, a knife, and a blade on the basis of information they gleaned from a suspect from a nearby area.

“We made as many as 100 suspects part of the investigation and took DNA samples of 42 people who were the suspects. We collected samples from nails, clothes, and many other objects,” Sanghar SSP Bashir Ahmed Brohi said.

He expressed hope that they would get more evidence from information gathered during the course of the investigation so far.

Two suspects out of the four are bhoopay, the Sanghar SSP said as he explained that bhoopay or male magic practitioners were a community that reportedly used paranormal powers in both “positive and negative” ways.

“They [the bhoopay] were of the view that the body parts might be helpful for them in black magic,” Brohi said adding that collecting skin and other body parts was one of the motives behind murder and mutilation of the body.

The prime suspect said that after killing Diya Bheel they hid body parts in a close-by area.

However, police investigators have not found Diya Bheel’s body parts and the skin that was removed from her head and face.

The police officer said that since the suspects had committed the crime in broad daylight they hid the body parts nearby and left but when they returned the next morning they saw animals. “So, the animals might have taken the skin,” said Brohi.

The SSP said that the knife, blade, and the woman’s comb had been sent for forensic examination.

“Initially a police sinnfer dog went to the house of the victim’s brother,” he said and added that the police used geo-fencing, sniffer dogs, and trackers to solve the case. “Diya Ram’s involvement was also confirmed by Roopo.”

Diya Bheel’s son reacts to the development

“I don’t know what has happened,” Sumar Bheel, the son of the victim told Aaj News as he reacted to the police press conference.

Diya’s husband died a year ago. She had four daughters, out of which three have been married. Samar is her only son.

“I am satisfied with police investgation,” Sumar said.

PPP lawmaker Krishna Kumar slammed the Indian media for misreporting the incident by politicizing it.

“Diya Bheel murder case finally solved. Police arrested Rupoo Bheel who is involved in malign motives. Diya’s own brother was also in close contact with Rupo during her murder,” she said in a tweet.

Ropoo Bheel practiced ancient black magic meant to unleash fear and control people, Special Assistant to CM for Human Rights Surendar Valasai said in a tweet.