Court grants physical remand of 34 in Priyantha Kumara lynching case

GUJRANWALA: Special anti-terrorism court (ATC) on Tuesday granted physical remand of 34 accused in lynching of a Sri Lankan national Priyantha Kumara in Sialkot, ARY News reported.

Police produced 34 accused of the lynching incident on completion of the previous remand before ATC Judge Natasha Naseem Sipra and requested for extension in the physical remand of the accused.

The Judge granted 13 days remand and ordered the police to produce the accused on January 03 in the court.

Stringent security arrangements were made during production of the accused in the case.

The court had earlier granted physical remand of a batch of 33 suspects of the same case to police until Jan 03. Another batch of 18 accused of the case will be produced in the court on Dec 28.

Police have so far produced 85 suspects of Sialkot lynching incident in the ATC.

Priyantha Kumara, a 49-year-old Sri Lankan national, was lynched by a mob at a factory in Sialkot on December 3, where he worked as manager.

A first information report (FIR) was registered against hundreds of unidentified men, including workers of the factory. Scores have since been arrested and are facing investigation.

The Punjab government and the prosecution team in December decided to conduct the jail trial of the high-profile case due to security concerns.