Claim: Pakistani social media influencer Sana Yousaf was shot dead by her cousin, according to the police.
Fact: The prime suspect in Sana Yousaf’s murder, Umar Hayat, is not her cousin. The Islamabad Police did not make any such claim either.
On 2 June 2025, a 17 year-old social media influencer, Sana Yousaf, was shot dead at her house. Police later apprehended the culprit, 22 year-old Umar Hayat, from Faisalabad within 20 hours of the incident. Islamabad Police Inspector General termed it a case of “repeated rejections”, whereby Hayat had unsuccessfully attempted to repeatedly contact Yousaf.
According to Dawn, the teenager was “well-known for her social media activities” garnering more than half a million followers of her content. The victim was laid to rest in her “ancestral graveyard in Chuinj village of Upper Chitral” on 3 June. The following day, a local court approved a “14-day judicial remand” for Hayat to conduct his “identification parade”.
Soon after the tragic murder, a number of unverified posts surfaced on X (formerly Twitter) claiming Sana Yousaf was killed by her cousin, with some explicitly stating that Umar Hayat was her cousin.
Fact or Fiction?
Soch Fact Check reached out to the Islamabad police to confirm whether Hayat was Sana Yousaf’s cousin or familial relative, to which they replied he was not.
To verify if Umar Hayat had been identified as Sana Yousaf’s cousin by the police, we combed through news reports on the incident from both local and international sources. Reports by CNN, BBC, Al Jazeera, New York Post, and CBS News did not make any mention of the suspect having any familial relationship with Yousaf or that the police had claimed as such. These reports mainly described Hayat as a “22-year-old” man or a “22-year-old unemployed man”.
Local news outlets like Dawn, The Express Tribune, and Pakistan Today did not state that the suspect was Yousaf’s cousin or familial relative either.
We also came across a press conference held by the Inspector General of Islamabad Police Syed Ali Nasir Rizvi on 3 June 2025 regarding the murder incident. From 7:39–9:39, Rizvi states that the suspect is named Umar (he later takes his full name “Umar Hayat” at 14:03) and that he is a 22 year-old resident of Faisalabad who constantly tried to contact Sana Yousaf. According to Rizvi, the suspect was intent on befriending Yousaf (“وہ جوچہتا تھا کہ اُن کی دوستی ہو”) despite her rejections.
Virality
On X, the claim was found here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here and here.
On Facebook, the claim was found here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, and here.
On Instagram, the claim was found here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, and here.
Conclusion: Islamabad police have arrested Umar Hayat, a 22 year-old resident of Faisalabad, for the murder of Sana Yousaf. According to the police, Hayat is not her cousin.
—
Background image in cover photo: CNN
To appeal against our fact-check, please send an email to appeals@sochfactcheck.com