Mureed murder suspect says doesn’t care if given death sentence

­KARACHI: The prime suspect in TV anchor Mureed Abbas' murder case, Atif Zaman, has reportedly said he has come to a point where even a death sentence does not bother him.

The investigation officer, Atiqur Rehman, told the city court that he had informed suspect Zaman he may be handed a death sentence if he pleaded guilty, to which he said his life was destroyed and he had come to a point where he did not care even if he was handed a death sentence

The IO presented to the court the medico-legal officer's (MLO) report of the suspect. It stated that Zaman had received a bullet in his upper chest that had ripped through his body. The court handed over the suspect to police for a one-day physical remand and ordered the police to record his statement.

The court further allowed Zaman's family and counsel to meet him. Earlier, on July 11, Tariq Dharejo — the senior superintendent of police (SSP) for investigation in Sindh — had said the suspect had admitted to police that he planned to kill as many as five people after investors had demanded he return their money when they learnt that he did not own any business.

The police official had said the suspect used to show other's business as his own to obtain money from the investors.

"He used to give money lent to him to people as profit and people started getting attached to him because of greed," Dharejo had said. “But he started facing issues after he failed to get more clients.” The SSP had mentioned that a police team was searching for primary suspect Zaman's brother, Adnan, who was also believed to be part of TV anchor Abbas' murder. Atif Zaman had attempted suicide earlier as well when he failed his Matriculation.

The investigation in the case had revealed that the entire scam was around Rs400-500 million and also involved smuggling.