Mirza’s accomplice attempts to distance himself from suspect
A district and sessions court rejected the post-arrest bail plea of an accomplice in the Usman Mirza sex assault video case. The District and Sessions Judge West Ata Rabbani presided over the post-arrest bail petition filed by Mirza’s accomplice Umar Bilal on Thursday.
Hasan Javed Shorash appeared before the court on behalf of the couple.
The suspect’s lawyer argued that his client was a student at Shifa Physiotherapy and he never met Mirza in person. He added that Bilal was a friend of Mirza’s brother.
The lawyer stated that Bilal's location was different from the crime scene's location neither he was nominated in the first information report (FIR). He added that Bilal was present at his house at the time of the incident while the female victim also did not give any statement against him.
He further said that the police accused the suspect of receiving extortion after obtaining his physical remand.
Read Usman Mirza’s remand extended
The suspect’s counsel added that the police were trying to prolong the case and for this purpose, it had made his client a robber, extortionist, and rapist. The lawyer argued that Bilal first opened a bank account in 2016 and he had not more than a few thousand rupees in his account.
Furthermore, the public prosecutor told the court that Mirza took the applicant’s names in three statements and that he was present at the crime scene.
He added that the police booked the suspect on July 9 and completed the process of identification parade during which the male victim identified Bilal as the one guarding the door in his statement to the magistrate.
The prosecutor further said that they recovered Rs100,000 in the case on the identification of the suspect too, adding that the suspect did not come inside the room, therefore, he was not visible in the video.
The male victim had informed that nine to 10 people entered the apartment using duplicate keys and went into the washroom.
Published in The Express Tribune, July 30th, 2021.