A Pakistani man reportedly deported from the US after the September 11 attacks is now charged with the murder of his American wife after officers caught him burying her naked body in a grave on Sunday morning.
Kazim Kamal Khan, 50, was caught in the act just after 2am and has since confessed to killing his estranged husband – identified as 50-year-old Diana Christo Khan.
He reportedly told police that he lured her abroad by claiming to be seriously ill.
The dramatic arrest came in the eastern city of Lahore, when a police patrol responded to a call from an unnamed gravedigger at the Ghazi Road cemetery – who reported a man was engaged in a funeral without adhering to proper burial rites.
When Pakistani Punjab Police officers arrived, they found Khan partially submerged in a shallow grave and his wife’s lifeless body wrapped in a sheet.
Photographs taken by the officers show this encounter – and accounts provided afterwards by officers and well-informed police sources describe the round of questioning that followed, culminating in Khan’s arrest.
Kazim Kamal Khan, 50, who was reportedly deported from the US after 9/11, is accused of killing his American wife after officers caught him burying her naked body in a grave on Sunday morning.
The 50-year-old Khan has since confessed to killing his estranged husband – identified as 50-year-old Diana Christo Khan. He reportedly told police that he lured her abroad by claiming to be seriously ill.
First, he reportedly told that his wife – who he said was staying in the US with his now 26-year-old daughter after he was deported – had suddenly died of natural causes.
Finally, after noticing visible trauma to the victim’s body, officers were able to coax a confession from the suspect – gaining insight into his estranged relationship with the deceased in the process.
“We received a call from a gravedigger about a man who had come to the cemetery and was trying to bury a body without a shroud or burial rites,” detention officer Muhammad Nadeem told AFP on Tuesday, as a US State Department spokesman confirmed the death of an American citizen in Lahore.
“When we arrived at the scene, we saw that the body was completely uncovered and it looked suspicious,” the officer added.
“We are in contact with the family and are providing all necessary consular assistance.”
An incident report filed by Nadeem’s department on Sunday shed more light on the late night incident – indicating that Christo Khan’s body had visible head injuries and bruises on the neck, while also revealing more about his and his wife’s past.
In the document, officers described how Khan, who received a US SSN in 1994 when confronted halfway through the excavation, told officers that he previously lived in the US with his wife and daughter, 26-year-old Karisma, but was deported after the 9/11 attacks.
The date for his deportation was not provided, but property records show that Kahn was living in Texas and North Carolina as recently as 2003.
After losing his citizenship, police said, Khan returned to his native Pakistan, leaving behind his wife and daughter. Officers said the couple were still married and had been married for some 28 years.
Photos taken by the officers show the late-night encounter at the Ghazi Road cemetery, which took place after a gravedigger noticed Kahn engaged in an unapproved burial, prompting him to call authorities
When Pakistani Punjab Police officers arrived, they found Khan partially submerged in a shallow grave and his wife’s lifeless body wrapped in a sheet. Upon closer inspection, they noticed that the corpse had suffered noticeable trauma
In subsequent years, police said the couple had a long-distance relationship, but on July 22, Christo Khan flew to her husband’s house in the Punjab Cooperative Society apartment complex in Lahore.
To get her to make the trip, police wrote, Khan told his child’s mother that he was ill and his health was rapidly deteriorating.
During his filmed statement to police, which has not been released, officers began to get wind that something was going on – prompting Khan to eventually admit to the murder, the incident report says.
At that time, the suspect told officers that he had abused his wife during sexual intercourse before committing the murder, and hit her on the head with a sharp object.
Based on his behavior, police said they suspected Khan had compromised mental health and may have been under the influence of drugs.
They then booked the suspect and sent his wife’s body for autopsy.
When confronted halfway through the dig, Khan – who received a US SSN in 1994 – told officers he previously lived in the US with his wife and daughter, 26-year-old Karisma, but was deported after the 9/11 attacks . He eventually confessed to the murder, police said this week
Accounts provided by law enforcement insiders to the The Express GrandstandPakistan’s leading newspaper, went into even more detail, alleging that Khan brutally tortured his wife by penetrating her with a sex toy and abusing her genitals during the alleged murder.
Police also said they recovered a sex toy from the man’s possession.
The body has been sent for an autopsy to determine the exact cause of death. DailyMail.com has contacted the US State Department for an update.