‘Sara Inam died of multiple head injuries’

Dr Bushra says no poison or drug content found in victim’s stomach, lungs

ISLAMABAD:

During the hearing of the murder case of Sara Inam, who was killed by the accused Shahnawaz Amir on September 22, 2022, Dr Bushra Ashraf, the doctor who conducted the post-mortem, told a local court said that the victim had multiple fractures on her head.

When Session judge Ata Rabbani took up the case, prosecutor Rana Hassan Abbas and the plaintiff's lawyer Rao Abdul Rahim appeared in the court.

Dr Bushra recorded the statement as a witness and said that Sara Inam had a wound of about 9 cm on her forehead and about 12 cm on her head. She said that Sara Inam had multiple injuries on her forehead, face, arms, hands, back and ears. The deceased had multiple fractures on her head.

Dr Bushra said in the statement that no poison or drug content was found in Sarah Inam's lungs and stomach.

According to the medical report, Sara Inam died due to a head injury. She also told the court that there was a span of 12 to 24 hours between the death of Sarah Inam and the post-mortem.

As Dr Bushra Ashraf recorded her statement in the Sara Inam murder case, the father and brother of the victim witnessed it in the courtroom.

The main accused Shah Nawaz Amir was presented in the courtroom during the hearing.

Head constable Javeed has also recorded his statement In Sara Inam's murder case. In the statement, Javed said that a black dumbbell was seized by the police from the crime scene. There were traces of blood in the bedroom where the crime took place, he said. He said that 19 bullets of SMG, 5 passports of the accused Shahnawaz Amir and 5 mobile phones were seized from the crime scene.

According to Javed, Shahnawaz Amir's foreign tickets, domestic and foreign currency and a Mercedes car were also seized from the scene.

He also said that a laptop, glasses, a mobile phone, a diary and other belongings of the deceased Sara Inam were also found at the crime scene. Earlier, the district and sessions court indicted the main accused Shahnawaz Amir and his mother Samina Shah in the Sara Inam murder case.

The main accused was found guilty of murder in police challan as he had confessed to the murder during the investigation.

According to the challan, the main accused had told the police during the investigation that when Sara Inam did not send him money (sometime before her murder) she had a heated telephonic conversation with him and he had divorced her on the phone.

The suspect told the police that after the divorce, Sara Inam had reached Islamabad from Abu Dhabi on September 22.

He furthered that she had started arguing with him in the bedroom that night and had demanded to return the money she had sent to him.

On which, according to the police challan, the suspect first hit Sara Inam with a showpiece and injured her. When Sara Inam started making noise, the accused picked up a dumbbell and hit her several times on the head.

The challan also stated that, on the crime scene, Samina Shah, the mother of the main accused, told the police that her son had a fight with his wife Sara Inam and he killed her by hitting her on the head with a dumbbell.

After the arrest, the main accused had confessed that he killed his wife during a fight.

According to the challan, the main accused told the police that, he hid his wife's body in a bathroom tub before it was recovered by the police on his identification.

Shahnawaz Amir was arrested by the Islamabad Police on September 23, on charges of murdering his wife, Sara Inam. She was allegedly murdered at their farmhouse in Islamabad's Chak Shehzad suburb, where the suspect lived along with his mother.

IHC to take up intra-court appeal on LG polls

Meanwhile, the IHC will take up on Thursday (today) the Federation and the Election Commission of Pakistan's intra-court petitions challenging the single bench's order for holding local body elections in Islamabad on December 31, 2022.

The federation has filed a separate request for the submission of additional documents in the intra-court appeal.

On behalf of the federal government, Additional Attorney General Munawar Iqbal Dogal has submitted a miscellaneous application, requesting the court for the inclusion of different documents as part of the record.

A copy of the Pakistan Bureau of Statistics’ table regarding the population of Islamabad, the notification of the interior ministry regarding the increase in the number of union councils, a copy of the bill presented in the National Assembly to amend the Local Government Act and a copy of the summary sent to the president have also been made part of the miscellaneous application.

A division bench headed by the IHC chief justice will hear the intra-court appeals of the Federation and the ECP today.

Contempt of court petition

Meanwhile, Senator Azam Swati’s wife Tahira Swati, has submitted a contempt of court petition against CDA operation in their farmhouse.

Islamabad High Court judge Justice Arbab Muhammad Tahir directed to merge the petition with the main case on the plea and issued a notice.

The court remarked that now only the notice was being issued after merging the application.

Ali Nawaz Kharl appeared in court on behalf of the petitioner. The court said that the issue on which the plea of contempt of court has been filed was not filed by the aggrieved party earlier nor did the court issue any such order.

The court said that they (the petitioner) had asked that the parties be restrained from demolishing the constructions, as they (the petitioner) themselves were willing to demolish the illegal constructions.

The court said that there was no mention of de-sealing the property in the court orders nor was demanded by the petitioner. The petitioner's lawyer said that the court has suspended the CDA notice. The court adjourned the hearing till March 6.

 

Published in The Express Tribune, January 19^th, 2023.