Maham rape and murder suspect handed over to police for 5 days

KARACHI: An anti-terrorism court (ATC) on Tuesday remanded the prime suspect in the Maham rape and murder case in police custody for five days.

The Korangi police produced suspect Zakir before the court with his face covered with a piece of cloth and requested his physical remand for investigation.

The court handed over the custody of the accused to the police on a five-day physical remand and ordered the investigation officer (IO) to produce him on next hearing with a progress report.

During the hearing, the IO informed the judge that the DNA samples of the suspect matched with those collected from the victim. Moreover, he added the suspect confessed to having committed the felony.

He said the suspect’s statement under section 164 is to be recorded before a judicial magistrate in addition to his identification parade, for which his physical remand is needed.

Speaking to the media outside the court, the father of the minor victim lamented, “We did not know that among us lives a beast of a man.”

Abdul Khaliq said if they knew suspect Zakir, also a father of two and whose own daughter is just one-and-a-half-year older than the victim Maham herself, was such a monster, they would have kicked him out of the neighborhood.

I appeal to the law that such monsters be handed out public hanging sentences, the father said. He said that while the police have confirmed the DNA of Zakir matches the samples collected from the body, there’s a possibility that more evidence turns up.