"Aasia concocted the plot to avenge being married against her will."

A Pakistani wife ‘accidentally’ killed 17 members of her in-laws after they drank a concoction containing poisoned milk. Which she created with the intention of poisoning her husband.

The incident took place in an area called Muzaffargarh, located in Punjab. After the incident, police arrested the woman and charged her with murder.

Aasia Bibi allegedly poisoned milk in an attempt to escape her arranged marriage. They recently married back in September 2017.

Reports claim she planned for her husband, named Amjad Akram, to drink it. Yet he refused when she offered the milk to him. Instead, his mother used it to make a yoghurt drink called Lassi.

In total, 27 family members drank this mixture, none realising about the poison. Since the drink was served on 27th October, the death toll has risen.

As of now, district police chief Sohail Habib Tajak said that out of the 27, 17 died from the poison and 10 remain in a critical condition.

Reports add that Aasia Bibi planned the poisoned milk due to her arranged marriage. Shortly after their wedding, police said she attempted to escape to her parents’ house. With this attempt failed, she then decided to poison her husband.

A senior police officer explained more: “Aasia was forced to marry Amjad against her will. She was not happy and came back to her parents house after a few days into marriage but her family forcibly sent her back to her in-laws’ house.

“Aasia concocted the plot to avenge being married against her will and was provided with poisonous substance by her alleged lover, Shahid Lashari.”

Police have not only arrested Aasia Bibi, but they have also accused her lover and her aunt as playing a role in the plot. A judge has also given police two weeks to decide if the plot was the 22-year-old’s own decision or if her lover had encouraged her.

They revealed that the 22-year-old originally denied poisoning the milk and claimed a lizard had fallen into it.

Police updated this, saying: “But she confessed her role in the custody.” Shahid Lashari also confessed to supplying the poison.

On 31st October, she and her lover appeared before a judge and told reporters:

“I repeatedly asked my parents not to marry me against my will as my religion, Islam, also allows me to choose the man of my choice for marriage but my parents rejected all of my pleas and they married me to a relative.”

She also claimed that she warned her parents she would go to extreme lengths to escape the marriage. But her parents ignored her threats. The 22-year-old also added that she intended to only harm her husband and not the extended family.

Police are continuing the investigation and tracking individuals that may also have ties to the plot.