Imran Farooq murder case: Court extends suspect’s physical remand

ISLAMABAD: An anti-terrorism court (ATC) on Monday extended physical remand of a suspect in the Imran Farooq murder case. ATC-I Judge Syed Kausar Abbas Zaidi extended 10 days physical custody of the suspect, Moazzam Ali Khan, after the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) produced him in the court following the expiry of his previous remand period.  Moazzam has not yet recorded his confessional statement in the case while two other suspects, Khalid Shamim and Syed Mohsin Ali, have recorded their statements before a magistrate confessing that Farooq was killed as he was a ‘potent threat to the Muttahida Qaumi Movement leadership’. On December 5, the FIA registered a case against MQM chief Altaf Hussain and other party leaders for their alleged involvement in the killing of Farooq in 2010.  Farooq was stabbed and bludgeoned to death near his apartment in Green Lane, Edgware, in September 2010.While opposing the FIA’s request for further extension in physical remand, suspect’s counsel Mansoorur Rehman Afridi argued that the incident took place in London in 2010 while the case was registered in Islamabad in 2015.

Published in The Express Tribune, January 19^th, 2016.