The murder investigation into TikToker Shamsu Bibi, also known as Ayesha Gulmana, taken fresh turn, with police claiming to have detained a nominated suspect and three alleged facilitators while pursuing two other suspects who remain at large.
Shamsu Bibi was shot dead on August 14 in Taxila. Police say the latest findings have raised the possibility that the TikToker was targeted through hired killers. Police said one suspect named in FIR had been arrested. The suspect allegedly called Shamsu Bibi and asked her to leave her home shortly before she was killed.
Two other nominated suspects, who police say belong to South Waziristan, are being pursued. According to investigators, both went into hiding after the killing and their homes have been found locked. The investigation took turn after geofencing allegedly showed that the mobile phones linked to the two wanted suspects were in Murree when Shamsu Bibi was murdered.
Police say the phones were not present at the crime scene, prompting investigators to suspect that the actual shooting may have been carried out by hired assassins.
Authorities are now working to establish who may have arranged the alleged killing and what role the suspects played in the crime.
FIR identifies a financial dispute as a possible motive. Shamsu Bibi’s father alleged that his daughter had told him that two individuals had taken money from her and were also threatening her with murder.
Police have formed multiple teams to investigate the case and are collecting evidence from different locations. The victim’s mobile phone is also undergoing forensic examination, while people who were frequently in contact with her are being brought into the investigation.
Shamsu Bibi’s brother Rahmatullah confirmed that the family believed the murder was connected to a financial dispute but disputed the police account regarding the arrested suspect.
He alleged that the detained man had not been nominated by the family. The investigating officer, however, maintained that the written application for registration of the FIR had been submitted by Shamsu Bibi’s father.
Rahmatullah said Shamsu was one of 10 siblings, the third in the family, and a mother of three children. He said she was travelling to her father’s home in Faisal Town on the day of the attack to meet her siblings. She lived separately from her parents in a rented house in Islamabad, according to her brother.
With two suspects still missing, forensic analysis underway and police pursuing the alleged hired-killer angle, investigators are now trying to piece together the chain of events that led to Shamsu Bibi’s killing. Police also sought assistance from the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Police as the investigation widens.
TikToker Ayesha Gilamana shot Dead in Taxila; sister injured
