Police round up 8 suspects in ATC judge’s murder

The Khyber district police on Monday arrested three more accused, including the son of Supreme Court Bar Association (SCBA) President Abdul Lateef Afridi, in the murder case of Anti-Terrorism Court (ATC) Judge Aftab Afridi and his family members.

The Swat ATC judge, his wife Bibi Zainab, daughter-in-law Kiran and three-year-old grandson Muhammad Sanan were gunned down on Sunday evening on the motorway near Ambar Interchange, Swabi. His driver and guard were seriously injured.

After the latest arrests, the total number of suspects in police custody has reached eight as earlier, five of them were nabbed in a joint operation in several areas of Peshawar and Khyber.

A police officer said the detainees include the son of SCBA president and a lawyer, adding that they were arrested during an operation in Jamrud.

The SCBA president is also nominated in the FIR registered on behalf of the deceased judge’s son, Abdul Majid Afridi.

‘Falsely implicated’

The SCBA Secretary Ahmed Shehzad Farooq Rana said that he contacted Lateef, who informed him that he and his son’s names had been falsely implicated in the FIR.

“The entire day yesterday (Sunday), my son and I were busy in transecting our family affairs and in the evening we were present at our agricultural land for plantation,” the statement quoted Lateef as saying. (With input from APP)