QAU student’s murder: Eight years on, accomplices caught, perpetrator still at large

Rana Muhammad Iqbal, the primary suspect, is still out of the law’s reach, police says he would be arrested 'soon'.

ISLAMABAD:

Rehman Azam Cheema’s parents have waited a long to see his killers arrested. On Saturday, eight years after Cheema was shot dead, the Secretariat police arrested the second of the killer’s accomplices, Nauman Akram.

Before the recent arrest, only Asif Mehmood, one of the three suspects in Cheema’s murder, had been arrested by the police. He was released after Cheema’s father pardoned him, as he did not pull the trigger.

Rana Muhammad Iqbal, the primary suspect, is still out of the law’s reach. However, a police official said that he would be arrested “soon”.

In 2003, Cheema, the leader of a student group, wanted to accommodate two extra boys in Mehmood and Akram’s hostel room in Quaid-i-Azam University. The inmates did not like the idea and protested, but Cheema was unbent.

They approached another student group. Iqbal, the leader of this group, and the two other suspects spoke with Cheema about the issue and exchanged hot words.

Later, the three decided to use force to change Cheema’s mind. Akram trapped him in their room, where Iqbal and Mehmood were already present. The four argued, and Iqbal suddenly pulled out a gun and shot Cheema in the chest three times.

The three fled from the room, leaving a bleeding Cheema behind. He was in the hospital for 40 days before he died. A case was registered at Secretariat Police Station.

Akram was arrested from Islamabad from a hideout on a tip-off. A court sent him on police remand till Monday.

During the initial investigations, Akram said that he did not know about Iqbal’s intentions to kill Cheema. “It came as a surprise to us. We ran from the scene in panic.”

Published in The Express Tribune, February 12^th, 2012.