Shoaib Iqbal Raja murder: Court grants two-day remand of suspects

Police had requested 10 days remand

RAWALPINDI: The Saddar Beruni police on Saturday obtained two-day physical remand of four suspects in the Shoaib Iqbal Raja murder case. Raja was a nephew of former Punjab Law Minister Muhammad Basharat Raja.

The Saddar Bairuni SHO produced Asad Mahmood, a PML-N candidate for chairman in Union Council-86 Dhamiyal, his father Jan Nisar alias Saleem Numberdar, Adil Rehman, and Raja Umer Mazhar Abbasi in a district and sessions court for remand.

The police had asked for 10-day physical remand to interrogate them, however, Sessions Judge Khalid Naveed granted remand for two days.

The police had to produce the accused before the sessions judge because two anti-terrorism court judges were on leave on Saturday. The judge noted that his court did not grant remand for requested amount of time as this was the prerogative of the trial court, but in light of the unavailability of the ATC judges, remand was granted till the start of the next working week. The police will produce the accused before the ATC on Monday.

The accused also submitted a request in court to allow them to get medical check-ups, which was approved.

A large number of lawyers had also assembled outside the court to show solidarity with Adil Rehman, who works as a lawyer.

The police had brought three suspects — Mahmood, Rehman, and Mazhar — from Karachi on December 10 after they were arrested in the Nazimabad area.

The Saddar Bairuni police had registered a murder case against Nisar and his sons for killing Raja outside a polling station in Hayal village on December 5.

Shuja Iqbal Raja, the deceased’s older brother had complained to the police that his brother was shot by Ikhlaq, allegedly on instructions from Nisar and Asad Mahmood.

Published in The Express Tribune, December 13^th, 2015.