Police to probe Zahir to get cell phone password

ISLAMABAD:

A local magistrate has allowed police to investigate Zahir Jaffer, the main accused in the Noor Muqqadam murder case, to get the password of his mobile phone.

After the Federal Investigation Agency replaced the broken screen of Zahir Jafar's mobile phone, the police had requested Islamabad Kacheri Judicial Magistrate Shoaib Akhtar to allow them to investigate the main accused to get the password from him to unlock the phone.

The judicial magistrate has allowed the FIA through the police to probe the main accused in this regard. The FIA will try to get the password from the accused through the police.

In the petition filed before the court by police investigating officer Abdul Sattar had said that on the identification of Zahir Jaffer, the mobile phone of the late Noor Muqqadam and the mobile phone and a laptop used by the accused were recovered and sent to the FIA's cybercrime wing Islamabad.

Read Court indicts Zahir Jaffer, parents

Earlier, the FIA had written to the police that the broken screen of the mobile phone of Zahir Jaffer has been repaired. The police had sought permission from the local magistrate to get the mobile phone screen repaired. The court had allowed replacing the broken screen of the mobile phone.

The FIA has now written to the police that the password has to be traced from the main accused to unlock the mobile phone.

Plaintiff gets notice in Noor murder case

Islamabad High Court judge Amir Farooq has issued a notice to the plaintiff on a plea of the parents of Zahir Jaffer, the main accused in the Noor Muqqadam murder case, seeking the provision of CCTV footage and digital evidence related to the incident.

The court will hear the case at the next hearing along with the case already filed by the Therapy Works chief executive officer, who has also sought the footage of the murder.

Read more Zahir Jaffer ‘confesses’ to killing Noor Muqaddam

Accused Zakir Jaffer and Ismat Adamjee’s lawyer Asad Jamal has taken the plea that the CCTV footage and other evidence have not been provided to his clients yet.

The trial court has also indicted the co-accused in the Noor Muqqadam murder case. The trial court has also summoned witnesses to record statements on October 20.

On the other hand, the Federal Investigation Agency has not yet submitted a forensic report of the mobile phone of Zahir Jaffer and Noor Muqqadam.

Earlier, the trial court had rejected the plea to provide digital evidence to the accused after the prosecution expressed the apprehension that it could be leaked or shared further.

Plaintiff Shaukat Muqqadam's lawyer Shah Khawar received the notice in the courtroom. The court also issued notice to Shaukat Muqqadam on miscellaneous petitions seeking the stay of the trial and adjourned the hearing till October 20.

Published in The Express Tribune, October 16^th, 2021.