Armaghan’s father fears arrest as son ‘admits’ to going into hiding on his advice

An anti-terrorism court on Tuesday handed over prime suspect Armaghan to the police for seven more days in the Mustafa Amir kidnap and murder case.

Investigating officer Muhammad Ali produced the suspect before the ATC-IV judge on completion of his remand and requested a seven-day extension of his physical remand for the completion of the investigation.

At the outset of the hearing, the judge inquired the IO about the progress made in the investigation over the past week. The IO said that on the pointation of the suspect, he had recovered the self-defence stick used by Armaghan to beat the victim, Mustafa Amir. He added that a DVR, NVR, mobile phones, and other articles had also been recovered.

During interrogation, the IO said, Armaghan admitted to confiding in his father, Kamran Asghar, the entire incident after Mustafa Amir’s murder, adding that his father had then advised him to leave Karachi and go into hiding, assuring him that they would also relocate the software house to another location.

The IO further said that the suspect admitted to travelling to Lahore, Islamabad, and Skardu with his friend, Shiraz, to evade arrest. He said the Counter-Terrorism Department was interrogating Armaghan about the recovery of illicit arms, while the Federal Investigation Agency’s Cybercrime Cell was also questioning him. The suspect had been interrogated by the Anti-Narcotics Force (ANF) as well, he added.

IO Ali further informed the court that the suspect was an absconder and wanted in at least eight cases related to drugs, extortion, and other crimes. He added that the relevant police stations had been conveyed to take action against him in these cases. He said he needed the suspect's custody to gather more evidence and complete the investigation.

On the other hand, defence counsel Abid Zaman and Tahirrur Rehman opposed the police's plea and argued that the IO had not submitted an interim charge sheet despite the lapse of more than 30 days. They moved an application seeking directives for the investigating officer to submit the charge sheet.

The judge asked Armaghan alias Army if he had been maltreated by police, but he didn't respond in the affirmative. "After hearing the arguments I have perused the record and find that Section 21-E of Anti-Terrorism Act 1997 provides that the total period of police remand may be granted but shall not exceed ninety days which have not elapsed, and during police custody further evidence may be available and the court is satisfied," the judge observed.

He granted seven days’ extension of Armaghan's physical remand and issued a notice to the prosecutor on the defence side's application. Meanwhile, the judge allowed the suspect's parents to meet him for five minutes in the courtroom in the presence of security personnel. Soon after meeting his son, Kamran left the court premises unnoticed, fearing his possible arrest on charges of abetment.