Police in Rawalpindi, Pakistan, are preparing to put a slain television anchor’s husband through a polygraph test in Lahore to measure his account that the pistol went off by accident.
A Rawalpindi court extended the physical remand of Ahsan Tahir, a deputy director at the Overseas Pakistanis Foundation, by four days on Tuesday, Nov. 10, 2026, keeping him in police custody in the killing of his wife, 92 News anchor and program host Rabia Ahsan. Rabia Ahsan, 41, was shot dead in the bedroom of the couple’s home in Gulshanabad Sector II, on Adiala Road, on Sunday, Nov. 8.
Senior Civil Judge Muhammad Nasrullah Wattoo handed Tahir to Saddar Beruni police for further investigation and ordered officers to produce him again on Nov. 13, along with a detailed investigation report and the post-mortem report. The same court had granted a one-day physical remand on Monday, Nov. 9.
Investigators had asked for seven days and got four. They told the court the polygraph test would be carried out at a forensic laboratory in Lahore and that its findings would be folded into the investigation report. Police also want forensic examination to establish whether the bullet that killed Rabia Ahsan was fired from the pistol recovered from her husband.
Her Sister Found Her on the Floor
Her mother and one of her sisters were out in the lawn around 2:30 p.m. when the shot sounded from inside the bedroom, according to the first information report. The sister, Alwina, ran in and found Rabia Ahsan on the floor in a pool of blood while Tahir held a pistol. Alwina phoned their brother, Khurram Ahmed, who was traveling from Islamabad to the house.
Khurram Ahmed accused Tahir of shooting his sister, and the case was registered on his complaint at Saddar Beruni Police Station under Section 302 of the Pakistan Penal Code and Section 13(2)(a) of the Punjab Arms Amendment Ordinance.
Rabia Ahsan had presented her last program on a mainstream television channel the night before she was killed. Hours before her death, she posted a video to her YouTube channel. She hosted the current affairs program “Muqabil,” worked alongside senior journalists including Amir Mateen and Rauf Klasra, ran a private salon in Islamabad and is survived by two daughters. Her death set off an outpouring of grief among colleagues and across Pakistan’s journalist community.
He Says a Pistol Fell
In his statement under Section 161 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, Tahir acknowledged that the shooting happened but maintained it was accidental rather than intentional, police told the court.
He told investigators that he and his wife were taking winter clothes for themselves and their children out of a cupboard when a pistol fell from the clothes and discharged, according to police sources. He expressed deep remorse, said there had been no premeditation or conspiracy to kill her, and claimed his daughters were at home and could corroborate what he described.
Tahir voluntarily handed the pistol to police and failed to produce a license or permit for it. Officers took custody of a 30-bore pistol and bullets. Police said the couple had no history of domestic disputes, and Tahir told them there had been no argument between them before the shot was fired.
What a Lahore Lab Must Settle
Preliminary post-mortem findings confirmed a single gunshot wound below the neck, with the bullet exiting through her back. No signs of physical violence were found on her body. Samples taken during the examination were sent to a forensic laboratory in Lahore, and the pistol and bullet casing went for analysis to determine whether the recovered weapon was the one used.
The polygraph will not settle the question on its own. The test records physiological responses, among them heart rate, blood pressure, breathing and sweating, but it cannot independently establish whether a statement is true or false.
Rawalpindi City Police Officer Hassan Mushtaq Sukhera went to the house with the senior superintendents of police for operations and investigations and a team of forensic experts, while teams from the Punjab Forensic Science Agency collected evidence from the scene. A male domestic worker at the house told police the husband had said the gunshot was accidental, according to police.
A Second Dead Woman in Rawalpindi
Khurram Ahmed has dismissed reports that the family intends to withdraw the murder case, saying no such decision has been taken.
In a statement issued by the Presidency, First Lady Aseefa Bhutto-Zardari condemned the killing and called for a thorough, impartial and transparent investigation that establishes the facts and holds those responsible to account. She raised concern over a “disturbing pattern of killing of another professional woman in the same metropolitan area,” Bhutto-Zardari said, referring to the murder of Hina Javed, a digital media executive found dead at her Rawalpindi residence in August with signs of torture. The outcome of that investigation is still awaited.
Police must bring Tahir back before Wattoo on Nov. 13, with the post-mortem report and a detailed investigation file that officers said would include the polygraph findings.