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Left: Galib Chowdhury (Houston Police Department). Right: Sadaf Iqbal (GoFundMe).
A disgraced Texas police officer cut a deal after facing charges of shooting his wife in the head, and now the ex-cop will spend the next two decades behind bars.
Galib Chowdhury, 33, was arrested in June 2023 by the same police department that employed him as an officer. Shortly after he admitted to what he described as accidentally shooting his wife, Sadaf Iqbal, then 31, the Houston Police Department fired him. An investigation into the incident revealed a troubled history between the two, including texts Chowdhury sent to Iqbal shortly before that fateful night.
According to reporting by KPRC, a local NBC affiliate, Chowdhury was the one who reported the shooting after midnight on June 12, 2023. At the time, he claimed that he was trying to shoot an intruder and Iqbal got in the way. However, KPRC reported that investigators were suspicious about his story; he reportedly didn’t have any physical description of the supposed suspect, nor did he say where they ran. There was also no damage to the home that would indicate a break-in.
Iqbal sustained a gunshot wound to the head that she survived. According to a GoFundMe page set up for her medical expenses, she is still recovering from her injuries. When she was taken to the hospital, she reportedly refused to give a statement to police and stated that the shooting was an accident. Investigators reportedly suspected domestic violence and asked to search her cellphone, to which she consented.
In their investigation, KPRC reported, detectives found a number of crude texts sent from Chowdhury to Iqbal in the hours leading up to the shooting, including “Wow, s— wife” and “Pick up, b—-.”
Chowdhury was ultimately charged with aggravated assault on a family member, causing serious bodily injury with a deadly weapon. He pleaded guilty and was sentenced to 20 years in prison.
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