Fahad murder case: Prime suspect granted bail in arms case

Arshad Mehmood remains in custody due to his bail-jumping attempt

ISLAMABAD: A judicial magistrate on Thursday granted bail to Raja Arshad Mehmood  in an arms case. The weapons were used in the murder of Barrister Fahad Malik.

Mehmood, who is the prime suspect in the case was arrested at the Torkham border on August 28 while attempting to escape to Afghanistan. He was handed over to the capital police on September 1.

Mehmood and co-accused Noman Khokhar are both in police custody on physical remand.

The police showed Mehmood’s formal arrest on Wednesday in the arms recovery case and produced him before Judicial Magistrate Waqas Raja on Thursday.

The court earlier sent him on 14-day judicial remand and later accepted his post-arrest bail plea against a surety bond of Rs50,000.

The Shalimar police had booked Mehmood, Khokhar and at least eight unidentified persons after Fahad was gunned down in Sector F-10/3 in the small hours of August 15.

Fahad’s uncle Malik Tariq Ayub 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 by Mehmood. The police booked the two along with eight unidentified persons for murder, attempted murder and rioting. They have also been charged with committing acts of terrorism.

Meanwhile, an anti-terrorism court on Thursday extended till September 21 the interim bail of Hashim Khan, another suspect, in the murder case.

Khan’s counsel told the court that his client was not nominated in the FIR but was made part of the investigation on the basis of suspicion. Fearing his arrest, he had applied for the pre-arrest bail.

The court has summoned the complainant of the case at the next hearing on September 21.

Published in The Express Tribune, September 9^th, 2016.