Mustafa Amir murder case: ATC extends suspects’ physical remand by 5 days – Pakistan

An anti-terrorism court (ATC) in Karachi extended the physical remand of accused Armaghan and Sheraz by five days in the Mustafa Amir murder case.

Amir was kidnapped and allegedly murdered by his friends in Karachi’s Defence Housing Authority (DHA) on January 6. According to the police, the youth’s friends stuffed his body in the trunk of his car and torched it in the Hub area of Balochistan.

Earlier this month, police arrested Armaghan for injuring cops during an attempt to resist his detention in connection with Amir’s kidnapping case. He was initially sent to jail but was handed into police custody on Tuesday for four days after the Sindh High Court struck down the earlier ATC orders while hearing the provincial government’s petitions.

Another suspect, Armaghan’s friend Sheraz aka Shavez Bukhari, was remanded in police custody by an ATC on February 16.

Both Armaghan and Sheraz were presented before ATC No.3 today by the police.

Investigation Officer Muhammad Ali requested a 14-day physical remand of both suspects, contending that the statements of Armaghan’s two employees were yet to be recorded.

The IO added that weapons and a laptop allegedly recovered from Armaghan’s house were also to be sent for forensic analysis.

Subsequently, the court accepted the IO’s request and extended the physical remand of both suspects by five days.

The development comes a day after a charred body, believed to be of Amir, was exhumed yesterday at a Karachi graveyard by a medical board, formed as per a court order.

Besides the murder case, first information reports (FIRs) against Armaghan have also been filed over injuring policemen during the February 8 shoot-out and recovery of imported illegal weapons.

Regarding investigati­ons on the two held suspects, Armaghan and Sheraz, the Crime Investigation Agency Deputy Inspector General (DIG) Muqaddus Haider said yesterday that the murder might be the outcome of a ‘financial issue’.

He said that investigators grilled Armaghan as to why he chose Hub to dispose of the body and Mustafa’s car. He said the suspect was not giving a “reasonable” response alth­o­ugh he admitted that it was their first visit to the area.

The DIG opined that it raised suspicions about the involvement of other suspects in the case.