A district and sessions court in Islamabad on Monday extended till August 23 the judicial remand of parents and two household staffers of Zahir Zakir Jaffer — prime suspect in Noor Mukadam's murder.

The extension was sought following the expiry of their previous two-week remand pronounced on July 27. After judicial magistrate Naseeruddin granted a fresh extension of remand today, the suspects are now set to remain in Adiala Jail for another 14 days.

On August 5, the sessions court had dismissed bail application filed by Jaffer's parents and noted in its "tentative assessment" that the suspects "not only caused abetment but also made utmost efforts to wipe off evidence".

"The way the things have gone through leads me to observe that there is reasonable ground to believe that petitioners/accused have committed non-bailable offences. As such, I am not inclined to grant bail to the petitioners/accused and consequently, the instant post-arrest bail application is hereby dismissed," copy of the detailed court judgement read.

The brutal murder of Noor, 27, daughter of former Pakistani diplomat Shaukat Mukadam, came to light on July 20 when she was found dead at a residence in Islamabad's upscale Sector F-7/4.

The background

The barbaric murder was widely condemned countrywide with civil society members, human rights activists and lawmakers calling for retribution for her killing.

A first information report (FIR) was registered on July 20 — the same day Mukaddam was killed — against Jaffer, who was arrested from the site of the murder, under Section 302 (premeditated murder) of the Pakistan Penal Code on the complaint of the victim's father.

In his complaint, Shaukat Mukadam had stated that he had gone to Rawalpindi on July 19 to buy a goat for Eidul Azha, while his wife had gone out to pick up clothes from her tailor. When he had returned home in the evening, the couple found their daughter Noor absent from their house in Islamabad.

They had found her cellphone number to be switched off, and started a search for her. Sometime later, Noor had called her parents to inform them that she was travelling to Lahore with some friends and would return in a day or two, according to the FIR, a copy of which is available with Dawn.com.

The complainant said he had later received a call from the suspect, son of Zakir Jaffer, whose family were the ex-diplomat's acquaintances. The suspect had informed Shaukat that Noor was not with him, the FIR said.

At around 10pm on July 20, the victim's father had received a call from Kohsar police station, informing him that Noor had been murdered.

Police had subsequently taken the complainant to Zahir's house in Sector F-7/4 where he discovered that his "daughter has been brutally murdered with a sharp-edged weapon and beheaded", according to the FIR.

Mukadam, who identified his daughter's body, has sought the maximum punishment under the law against Zahir for allegedly murdering his daughter.