In yet another twist to the bizarre case over the missing of Noushad, his wife Afsana on Sunday accused the police of intimidating and torturing her under custody to extract a confession on murdering the man.
After being released on a bail from the women’s prison in Thiruvanathapuram, Afsana told the media that she had been forced to confess about the killing of Noushad under duress. The woman had been lodged in the prison under judicial custody based on the confession and was granted bail upon tracing Noushad alive.
“I was subjected to brutal torture by the police including women officers. When they asked what exactly had happened to Noushad, I replied that I had no idea. I confessed to the murder after they said I would not see my children again and that my father too would be arraigned as an accused. I did not know that the police had booked a murder case against me,’’ she said.
Legal action planned
Elaborating on the ordeal she had allegedly gone through, Afsana said the police even applied pepper spray into her mouth and did not let her sleep throughout the night. “Unable to bear the trauma, I finally confessed to murdering him and burying the remains at some locations as directed by the police. I am planning legal action against the police,” she added.
The statement has caught the Pathanamthitta police, which has already come under severe criticism for arresting Afsana on the suspicion of killing Noushad, further on the back foot.
Charges against her
The woman had confessed to killing Noushad last week during an interrogation by the police and to uncover the body, the police took her to several locations and even dug out the floor of her rented house and a graveyard nearby. Unable to trace the body, the police recorded her arrest for wilfully misleading the investigators and destroying evidence.
The police, however, were constrained not to oppose her bail plea after Noushad had been traced alive to Thommankuthu, near Thodupuzha, the next day.
