LAHORE:
Two women have been arrested for murder after strangling a healer of the Pakistani faith with a scarf after years of being chantajal for videos that took them, police said Monday.
The women told the police that Riaz Hussain had resorted to get help to eliminate the curses of black magic, but instead he took compromising videos that threatened to free.
“During the investigation, it was discovered that Riaz Hussain had been sexually harassing women for a long time under the pretext of spiritual healing,” said police in the city of fine in the province of Punjab in a statement.
The women, with the help of their cousin and another man, strangled the healer of faith with a scarf before throwing his body.
The four have been arrested for murder, police said, added that a fifth man has also been arrested.
The healers of faith are venerated by some communities in Pakistan, and their orders are followed in a devout way, which allows a generalized exploitation.
A pregnant woman was taken to a hospital with a nail in her head in 2022 after a faith healer said she would guarantee that she would give birth to a child.
Another woman died the following year after being tortured with sticks for days by a healer of faith that claimed to follow an exorcism ritual.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a union feed).
