Cinema guard's shooting: Police remain clueless as court grants seven-day remand

KARACHI:

The police have yet to find any conclusive evidence in the murder case of the security guard of Nueplex cinema. The court, however, has granted a seven-day police remand of the three suspects arrested in the case.

The security guard, Muhammad Asif, 33, was shot dead on Thursday night during a scuffle with two young men. The police have already arrested the other guard present in the scuffle, Afsar Khan, and the other two young men, Favian, stepson of the former governor of Balochistan, Zulfiqar Magsi, and his friend Aurangzaib.



The suspects were produced before a judicial magistrate on Sunday where the court granted a seven-day police custody remand of all the three suspects. The accused, Favian ,is a British national and son of Muhammad Faisal Khawaja. He came to visit his mother in Pakistan and to complete his A' levels in Karachi.

Favian's family said that the boy is innocent and is not involved in the murder case. "Favian and some other men had a scuffle over a car race," said Favian's uncle, Waseem Khawaja, while talking to The Express Tribune. "Why did the cinema's security guards intervene as they (Favian and his companions) were outside the cinema?" He said the police should investigate the facts before naming him and his friend in the FIR because the guard was killed by another guard.

Police investigators have recorded the statements of at least five witnesses but could not reach a conclusion. "We did not get any major breakthrough with these witnesses' statements," investigating officer, Muhammad Mobin, told The Express Tribune. "We could have gotten help from the footage but unfortunately, the crime scene was out of the cinema's CCTVs' range."

Published in The Express Tribune, December 30^th, 2013.