Noor Mukadam case: Therapy Works staffers' lawyer completes final arguments

ISLAMABAD: The lawyer of the Therapy Works staffer and five other suspects has completed the final arguments in the Noor Mukadam murder case and pleaded with the court to acquit the five accused, ARY News reported on Monday.

The additional sessions judge conducted the hearing of Noor Mukadam murder case today in which the lawyer of Therapy Works employee and five other accused completed the final arguments.

During the hearing, the judge questioned the lawyer about the names of his clients. He replied that he was representing Dilip Kumar, Wamiq Riaz, Samar Abbas, Abdul Haq and Amjad Mahmood.

The judge questioned at what time the accused had reached the scene. The lawyer replied that they reached the scene at around 8:00 pm.

READ: ZAHIR JAFFER: NOOR MUKADAM FAMILY FRAMED ME FOR MURDER TO EXTORT MONEY

The lawyer Shehzad Qureshi continued that there was no certain importance of a statement under Article 38. After watching the DVR, it could be witnessed that the suspect can leave the scene but he remained there. There were three people present in the house but the evidence was not removed.

Shehzad Qureshi added that the crime scene in-charge had alleged that they recovered a pistol, knife and other material from the crime scene besides alleging that some evidence were removed without giving any details.

He said that the footage of the whole incident can be seen via a digital video recorder (DVR). The video has vanished after the arrest of the prime suspect. He added that nobody had tried to remove the evidence from the crime scene.

READ: NOOR MUKADAM CASE: ZAHIR JAFFER SAYS SOMEONE ELSE DID THE MURDER

“Police had reached the crime scene 25 minutes after Amjad got injured. Amjad had reached the hospital at 8:59 pm. After watching the DVR, it has been proved that his clients caught the prime suspect.”

The lawyer pleaded with the court to acquit his clients after completing his final arguments in the case.

Advocate Asad Jamal, who was representing Asmat Adamjee, mother of the primary accused Zahir Jaffer requested the court to produce the accused to the courtroom. The judge questioned the reason for his request. To this, Jamal said that the prime suspect Zahir Jaffer wanted to witness the hearing.

The lawyer Akram Qureshi, who is also representing the Therapy Works’ employees, told the court that all police officers had rushed to the crime scene between 9:00 pm to 9:30 pm. The facts had shown that the police officers were not telling the truth.

READ: NOOR MUKADAM MURDER TRIAL NEARS CONCLUSION

Qureshi continued that they had imposed charge number 13 on his clients that Tahir Zahoor had telephoned Zakir and Asmat Adamjee. It had also been told that Tahir Zahoor was being given instructions. The prosecution will have to proof regarding the instructions being given to Tahir Zahoor. No evidence came on the records except a CDR, he added.

The lawyer read the ruling of the Supreme Court in the courtroom that clearly defines that a transcript without CDR cannot be used as a piece of evidence. Police had not even registered a First Information Report (FIR) after reaching the crime scene that established the ground to file a case against the police officials under Article 174.

Qureshi said that the investigation had been completed by the police officers before the registration of the case. He added that police officers had apparently completed all legal procedures while staying at the police station and contradictions were found in the copies of the case records.

The lawyer of Asmat Adamjee, Asad Jamal argued that there were eyewitnesses which should be presented before the court, whereas, no timeline was presented by the prosecution.

The lawyer added that the investigators did not collect mobile phone and WhatsApp data of slain Noor Mukadam. The lawyer said that there is no ground to establish the involvement of Zakir Jaffer and Asmat Adamjee in the murder case.

In the previous hearing, the prime suspect Zahir Jaffer’s lawyer had completed his final arguments in the Noor Mukadam murder case during today’s hearing at the sessions court.

The murder

It is pertinent to mention here that the grisly murder, in which Noor Mukadam was beheaded, took place on July 20 in Islamabad’s F-7 area. Noor is the daughter of Shaukat Mukadam, who served as Pakistan’s ambassador to South Korea and Kazakhstan.

The Islamabad police arrested suspect Zahir Zakir Jaffer on the night of July 20 from his house where, according to Noor’s parents, he killed her with a sharp instrument and severed her head.