SHC orders IO to present Armughan in ATC for remand in Mustafa murder case

The Sindh High Court (SHC) on Tuesday set aside an anti-terrorism court’s (ATC) order refusing to grant police remand of the prime suspect in the kidnapping and murder case of 23-year-old Mustafa Amir, and directing the forming of a joint investigation team (JIT).

The SHC ordered the investigating officer to present the suspect in the ATC for seeking fresh remand. The short order came on four applications filed by the prosecution department against the ATC’s order refusing to grant police remand of prime suspect Armaghan and directing the forming of a JIT.

Acting prosecutor general Muntazir Mehdi said the ATC erred in its impugned order for not granting the suspect’s police remand, thus depriving police of the opportunity to interrogate him. Police have the right to interrogate the suspect, and the impugned order is unlawful, he added.

Mehdi said the suspect’s police remand is necessary, as police have collected Amir’s blood sample from the suspect’s house, and forensic tests have to be conducted on the laptops seized from the suspect. Police officials were wounded during the raid to arrest the suspect, he added.

He said there has been no request for a JIT’s constitution, and the ATC’s order for the same is unlawful. The case is already being investigated under a senior police officer, and the ATC has no jurisdiction to pass such an order, he added.

He requested the SHC to set aside the ATC’s impugned orders, and allow the prosecution’s application for the suspect’s police remand to investigate the case. Armaghan, who was present in court, complained of maltreatment during police custody. The court asked him if he has filed an application for medical treatment in prison, to which he said he was shocked.

Home department officials said the registrar post is vacant, while the officer who has been given the additional charge has left the country to perform Umrah. After hearing the counsel’s arguments for reasons to be recorded later, an SHC division bench headed by Justice Zafar Ahmed Rajput allowed the prosecution’s applications.

The bench ordered the IO to present the suspect in the ATC to obtain fresh police remand in all four cases. Armaghan was arrested on charges of kidnapping and murdering Amir in cold blood. According to the prosecution, the suspect and a co-accused kidnapped Amir on January 6, killed him after keeping him in confinement at an undisclosed location, then burnt his body in his vehicle near Hub.