New revelations are coming up in the news that emerged three days ago of a newlywed woman killing herself accidentally while making a TikTok.
Police investigation suggests that Fatima Bibi from Jaranwalla, who was reported to have killed herself while filming a TikTok with a gun in her hand, was actually shot dead by her nephew who was playing with a gun in the same room.
BBC Urdu’s Turhab Asghar investigated the case and unravelled police findings.
Despite the initial impression of the incident given by Fatima’s family, the police investigated it because it claimed that the nature of the incident was somewhat different and it is not as simple as described by the family.
The paternal uncle of 22-year-old Fatima Abbas, Ishitaq Ahmed told BBC News, “It was nothing short of doomsday at our home, we sent the girl off two days ago and her funeral was held two days later.”
However, he did mention that when the incident happened, the victim, her mother, sister and children were in the same room. “She took out a pistol from the drawer and started making a video and suddenly a bullet went off.”
On the question of where the pistol came from, Ishtiaq said that it belonged to her husband’s friend and he brought it to shoot in the air during the wedding celebrations.
Moreover, Ishtiaq Ahmed blamed TikTok for Fatima’s death, pointing out that the young generation is totally consumed by it.
He was still not able to provide any information about Fatima’s TikTok account.
How did the police investigate?
BBC Urdu contacted Faisalabad police to get information. They were told that as the statements of the girl’s family and in-laws match so they are investigating the matter.
Just a day after that, Central Police Officer Faisalabad Kamran Adil after having investigated the case, said that “This is not a suicide. In this incident, the deceased didn’t fire the gun herself but she was hit by a bullet fired by her 10-year-old nephew.”
This is a one of its kind case in which there was no complainant and we have solved this case for the sake of public interest at large. The parents, husband, and in-laws blamed Fatima and TikTok for her murder and showed it to be a suicide.”
Jaranwala Superintendant Police Zia-ul-Haq told BBC that when the police officers arrived on the spot they saw that Fatima had fallen inside the room after the bullet hit her.
“I went closer and saw that there was a bullet between her head and ear,” SP Zia says.
“We asked the people present at the scene what had happened, and the girl’s mother said that we had just come here. I was sitting on the bed with her and my other daughter was also with her, while Fatima was making a Tik Tok with the pistol and suddenly the bullet hit her and she died on the spot.”
Even though, the other witnesses said the same, the police team present at the scene started searching for the pistol used in the incident, but they did not find any pistol there.
“As we searched the crime scene carefully we found a bullet casing.”
The police team also asked about Fatima’s phone to which they were told that it was broken and become dysfunctional now.
“We asked where is the mobile on which Fatima was making the TikTok? At first, they said that the mobile had fallen down and broken and now its screen panel cannot be opened, but when we took the mobile from them, it looked as if it had been smashed under their feet,” SP Jaraanwalla said.
The family was also asked about Fatima’s TikTok account to which the police was informed that she did not have an account.
The police became more suspicious when they noticed the crime scene being tampered. They rejected the idea of the victim’s autopsy.
However, after convincing them for the autopsy, the forensic team also collected evidence as they had doubts because “The bullet was fired from a close range but the angle was not such that it could be said that it was suicide,” the SP stressed.
After an intrusive search, the police team found out that the victim was neither making a TikTok video nor was she a victim of her own bullet, but the bullet was fired by the victim’s ten-year-old nephew.
“We expanded the scope of the investigation and recorded the statements of all the family members separately, which turned out to be contradicting each other.
As the evidence came to light, BBC Urdu talked to the family and they said after the accident happened, we were “scared” to tell this to the police.
Because of this lie the police decided to take up the matter legally after which they registered a murder case, becoming a complainant.
Additionally, the police have taken the ten-year-old boy who fired the shot into custody and is conducting further investigations into the case to see if anyone is involved with this child and the final report will be released in a few days.
