Suspect remanded in police custody

Journalist Faisal Qureshi was allegedly killed for money.

LAHORE:

A judicial magistrate on Saturday granted a five-day physical remand of the man allegedly involved in the murder of Faisal Qureshi, 28, a online journalist.

Investigation officer (IO) Iftikhar Rasool produced Faisal Hameed in Judicial Magistrate Junaid Makhdoom’s court seeking a 14-day physical remand.

Qureshi was identified in an identification parade at the Kot Lakhpat Jail a few days ago. The IO told the court that the police have yet to recover the weapon used for the murder. The judge granted a five-day physical remand.

Earlier, after the identification parade, Judicial Magistrate Rizwan Babar had recorded statements of two witnesses, Tahir Aslam and Gulfaam, who said, Qureshi was killed for money.

According to Aslam’s statement, Hameed gave him an ATM card and asked him to withdraw Rs21,000. He said Hameed told him that he could not operate an ATM machine. He said, however, he could not make the transaction as it surpassed the limit on the account and gave the card back to Hameed.

Gulfaam told the police that he had seen Hameed leaving Qureshi’s house on his motorbike. He said Hameed was in a hurry and was carrying Qureshi’s laptop. He said he knocked at the door but there was no response, so  he left, thinking no one was at home.

The IO said that the accused had rented a stolen motorbike. He said the owner of the bike had demanded a Rs50,000 compensation for the bike. He said he had arranged Rs20,000, and was short of the remaining amount.

He speculated that Hameed had killed Qureshi and stolen his laptop. However, he said, the investigations not complete.

Published in The Express Tribune, January 1^st, 2012.