Bail plea of murder accused rejected

PESHAWAR: The Peshawar High Court (PHC) on Monday rejected the bail plea of two persons accused of murdering a man over a property dispute.

The complainant in the case was represented by Advocate Umar Farooq.During the hearing, the counsel for the accused, Fahad Afridi and Yusuf Afridi, argued that their clients had been accused of killing one Nadir Zaman on September 7, 2024, in the jurisdiction of Bilitang Police Station in Kohat.

He added that a third suspect was also named in the case but remained at large.The defense lawyer further stated that a cross-FIR had been registered at Peshawar’s Lady Reading Hospital, which indicated that this was a case of enmity rather than a straightforward murder. He pleaded with the court to grant bail to his clients.

On the other hand, the complainant’s lawyer, Advocate Umar Farooq, contended that the cross-FIR mentioned by the defense was registered at Lady Reading Hospital, even though the deceased had already posted a message on social media earlier that morning, stating that a politically influential family was threatening to kill him over a property dispute.He further argued that after making this claim, the victim was murdered.

The complainant’s counsel informed the court that around 80 empty bullet shells were recovered from the crime scene, and the suspect who filed the cross-FIR was currently on the run.The counsel insisted that the case could not be treated as enmity since the official police FIR established the motive behind the crime. He emphasized that the deceased had already expressed fears for his life.