Police get remand of DHA cop killer’s brother-in-law, driver for questioning

An anti-terrorism court on Thursday granted till November 30 police remand of two suspects held in connection with the murder of a policeman in the Defence area.

Thirty-four-year-old police constable Abdul Rehman of the Shaheen Force was shot dead by a man named Khurram Nisar, said to be the son of a former deputy commissioner, after an exchange of heated arguments late on Monday night. The suspect, however, managed to escape to Sweden within a few hours of the incident.

His brother-in-law Amir Qadeer and driver Aurangzeb were subsequently detained for their alleged involvement in concealing evidence and helping him flee abroad. On Thursday, the investigating officer produced both the detained suspects before the administrative judge of the anti-terrorism courts to obtain their physical remand for interrogation.

The IO stated that the fleeing suspect’s driver during the initial interrogation admitted to hiding evidence of the commission of the offence. On the night between November 21 and 22, Nisar called his driver to the airport where he informed the latter about the incident, the police officer said, adding that on the suspect’s instructions, the driver removed the number plate of the car used in the crime and hid it along with the crime weapon, which were later recovered from Nisar’s room on information from the driver.

The IO said Amir accompanied Nisar to the airport and helped him flee. He said both detained suspects were required to be interrogated about the crime and requested their 14-day physical remand.

The judge, however, granted their remand until November 30 and directed the IO to present them along with an investigation report on the next hearing. An FIR has been registered at the Clifton police station under sections 302 (premeditated murder) and 353 (assault or criminal force to deter public servant from discharge of his duty) of the Pakistan Penal Code (PPC) read with Section 7 (punishment for terrorism) of the Anti-Terrorism Act, 1997 on the complaint of sub-inspector Mohammad Shabbir.

According to content of the FIR, the victim along with another cop was on motorcycle patrol when they heard screams of a woman from a car that zoomed past on Khayaban-e-Shamsheer near a 26th Street signal at around 11:30pm. Constable Rehman chased the car and got it stopped near Abdullah Shah Ghazi’s shrine and sat on the front seat of the car. In the meantime, the women got off the vehicle and disappeared.

The driver drove to Phase V Extension where he pulled over and the two exchanged hot words. Then the suspect opened fire at Rehman, who also returned the fire, but he suffered a bullet injury and fell down on the road.