Lecturer among three more arrested in Mashal Khan lynching case

Other two include the AWKU student who had incited the mob to kill Mashal

MARDAN: The Mardan police have arrested three more people, including a lecturer, for their suspected involvement in the brutal lynching of 23-year-old Abdul Wali Khan University student Mashal Khan last month.

A high-ranking official told The Express Tribune on Tuesday that based on tip-offs, the police had conducted operations in various areas of Mardan and arrested three men including a lecturer of the Government Post Graduate College Mardan and AWKU student Wajid Khan, alias Malang Jan, who had incited the mob to kill Mashal.



Wajid and the other arrested student were the ones who had accused mass communication department lecturer Ziaullah Hamdard of hiding Mashal, stole his cell phone and then traced Mashal to the university hostel where he was attacked and murdered on April 13, said the officer.

With the new arrests, the total number of people rounded up for their involvement in the heinous crime has reached 56.

Two prime suspects are still at large, including PTI councillor Arif Mardan and a student belonging to the Jamaat-e-Islami.

The joint investigation team charged with probing the incident with the Mardan police has completed its report and will submit it to the Supreme Court on Wednesday.

Mashal, a journalism student, was shot dead and his body was brutally desecrated on the campus of AWKU last month by a mob after he was accused of blasphemy.