Judge’s parents: Police get murder suspects’ custody for five days

Police has yet to recover stolen Rs163,000 and gold ornaments, argues deputy prosecutor Rana Bakhtiar.

LAHORE: Atif Abbas and Naveed Iqbal, the two men who the police believe murdered Justice Javed Iqbal’s parents, were handed over to the CIA Model Town on a five-day physical remand.

Naveed Iqbal is a step brother of Justice Javed Iqbal.

The deputy prosecutor, Rana Bakhtiar, had sought a seven-day remand arguing that the police had yet to recover Rs163,000 and gold ornaments stolen from the deceased.

At this, the court granted a three-day physical remand. Bakhtiar prayed for an extension in the remand saying that a third suspect, Muhammad Amin, was still at large.

He said that the police believed he was in Karachi and needed time to question his accomplices. The court then extended the remand by two days.

Naveed Iqbal, the main suspect, denied that he had anything to do with the murders.

“I am an educated person and belong to a noble family. I am not involved in the murder of my parents,” he told the court.

His alleged accomplice, Atif Abbas, told the magistrate that he had broken into the house along with Iqbal. “Before the break in, I had no prior record,” Abbas maintained, adding, “I did everything on Naveed Iqbal’s directions.”

Published in The Express Tribune, January 20^th,  2011.