Fahad Malik murder : One of two prime suspects arrested after bail dismissed

ISLAMABAD: The police on Saturday arrested one of the two prime suspects in the Fahad Malik murder case after his interim bail application was rejected by a sessions court. Additional Sessions Judge Pervaizul Qadir Memon rejected Noman Khokhar’s bail plea after the police informed the court that the suspect had not assisted the police in the investigation during the course of his interim bail. He was arrested outside the courtroom.

The Shalimar police had booked Raja Arshad, Noman Khokhar and at least eight unidentified persons after Fahad was gunned down in F-10/3 in the wee hours of August 15. Malik Tariq Ayub — Fahad’s uncle — was also injured in the attack.

In an application submitted to the police, Tariq maintained that he was injured by a bullet fired by Khokhar, while Fahad was shot at by Mehmood. The police had booked the two along with eight unknown persons for murder, attempted murder and rioting, but before the police could make any arrests, Khokhar obtained interim pre-arrest bail from an Islamabad sessions court, while Mehmood got protective bail till August 30 from the LHC Multan Bench.

After the court took up Khokhar’s bail plea on Saturday, the bench was informed by the police that the suspect did not assist them in carrying out the investigation after he had obtained interim bail. The police also informed the court that Section 7 of the Anti Terrorism Act had also been added to the FIR as the suspects opened fire in a public place.

Zafar Khokhar, counsel for the suspect, objected to the additional anti-terror charge, claiming that the police had not informed his client about it. The counsel requested court for two days time to approach the ATC, but the court rejected his plea.

The counsel then expressed his lack of confidence and requested that the court transfer the case to another court, which was also rejected.

Talking to The Express Tribune, Zafar Khokhar rejected the police claim that his client did not assist the police investigation. “We went to the police station for three times, how else could we assist them? The police also did not inform us about the addition of the ATA charge. We found out about it in court,” he said.

Published in The Express Tribune, August 28^th, 2016.