Uzma Ayub case: Witness in rape case to undergo DNA test
Uzma’s brother, Zafran, has confirmed the development.
PESHAWAR:
A police team constituted to investigate the Uzma Ayub rape case has widened its probe by collecting blood samples of the main witness in the case for DNA tests, The Express Tribune has learnt.
When contacted, Uzma’s brother, Zafran, confirmed the development.
Sources familiar with the investigation said that Zafran had submitted an application to the Peshawar High Court, seeking a court bar on investigators to collect blood samples of Jamal Anwar, the main eyewitness in the case. Zafran called it a plot to trap Jamal.
However, an investigator told The Express Tribune that it was necessary as a part of the probe to collect Jamal’s blood samples for DNA test.
“Not just Jamal, we can take blood samples of any person as required for the probe because we are investigating the case from different angles. We want to solve the case and bring the culprits to justice,” a member of the probe team said.
The DNA test results of six accused, Uzma herself and her daughter Zeba, have been received and handed over to PHC Chief Justice Dost Muhammad Khan. Only the chief justice can open the envelope containing the test results.
But a relative of one of the accused told The Express Tribune on condition of anonymity that blood samples of other accused persons have also been collected and sent for DNA test.
Bilqisam Jana, Uzma’s mother, nominated 13 persons, including three police officials, for allegedly kidnapping and raping her daughter while registering a case at the Takht-e-Nusrati police station in Karak district.
Zafran accused five people, including a police official, of killing his brother.
Four persons – Assistant Sub-Inspector Hakim Shah, Javed Shah, Rehmat Shah and Abdul Wahid – were arrested by the police. However, Ibrahim Shah, a brother of the accused Hakim Shah, managed to escape and is still at large.
Published in The Express Tribune, March 17th, 2012.
A police team constituted to investigate the Uzma Ayub rape case has widened its probe by collecting blood samples of the main witness in the case for DNA tests, The Express Tribune has learnt.
When contacted, Uzma’s brother, Zafran, confirmed the development.
Sources familiar with the investigation said that Zafran had submitted an application to the Peshawar High Court, seeking a court bar on investigators to collect blood samples of Jamal Anwar, the main eyewitness in the case. Zafran called it a plot to trap Jamal.
However, an investigator told The Express Tribune that it was necessary as a part of the probe to collect Jamal’s blood samples for DNA test.
“Not just Jamal, we can take blood samples of any person as required for the probe because we are investigating the case from different angles. We want to solve the case and bring the culprits to justice,” a member of the probe team said.
The DNA test results of six accused, Uzma herself and her daughter Zeba, have been received and handed over to PHC Chief Justice Dost Muhammad Khan. Only the chief justice can open the envelope containing the test results.
But a relative of one of the accused told The Express Tribune on condition of anonymity that blood samples of other accused persons have also been collected and sent for DNA test.
Bilqisam Jana, Uzma’s mother, nominated 13 persons, including three police officials, for allegedly kidnapping and raping her daughter while registering a case at the Takht-e-Nusrati police station in Karak district.
Zafran accused five people, including a police official, of killing his brother.
Four persons – Assistant Sub-Inspector Hakim Shah, Javed Shah, Rehmat Shah and Abdul Wahid – were arrested by the police. However, Ibrahim Shah, a brother of the accused Hakim Shah, managed to escape and is still at large.
Published in The Express Tribune, March 17th, 2012.