KOHAT: A local court on Tuesday remanded one of the suspected killers of a female medical student in police custody for three days.

Sadiqullah Afridi was held early on Tuesday but the police didn’t disclose where the arrest was made. However, sources claimed that the police arrested the suspect in Dhodha town here.

The prime suspect in the case, Mujahidullah Afridi, has already fled to Saudi Arabia on a Umrah visa.

The two, who are brothers, face the charge of killing Asma Rani, a third-year student of the Ayub Medical College, Abbottabad, for rejecting Mujahidullah’s marriage proposal.

DPO says Interpol contacted to arrest prime suspect in Saudi Arabia

Also in the day, district police officer Abbas Majeed Marwat told a news conference that the suspect was arrested in the house of a facilitator, whose name would be disclosed and named in the FIR after legal formalities were fulfilled and Sadiqullah would record statement with the civil judge at the end of physical remand.

He said the Interpol had been contacted for the early arrest of the prime suspect.

The DPO said the police had shared the passport and CNIC numbers of Mujahidullah with the Federal Investigation Agency and got him placed on watch list after the killing but learned that the prime suspect had already left the country.

He said the police had added Section 302 of the Pakistan Penal Code to the FIR in the wake of the girl’s death.

When asked if the girl was shot at by both suspects, Mr Marwat said the forensic test would reveal if all three bullets were fired from one weapon or two.

He said the police had seized empty casings of three 30-bore pistol bullets from the crime scene and sent them to the laboratory for forensic examination.

The DPO said the girl’s family had never reported any death threats issued by the suspects but the police had learnt that the prime suspect had been pushing the deceased and her family for marriage for quite some time.

He said the police led by him conducted more than a dozen raids to arrest suspects and that they faced no political pressure to favour suspects. “We raided the houses of the suspects’ relatives and friends,” he said.

Also in the day, PTI Kohat district president Aftab Alam denied he or his party was protecting the suspects, who were his nephews.

He told a news conference here that he and his party were falsely accused of protecting the suspects.

“The police should investigate the case freely and without fear and raid all places where the suspects may perhaps be hiding. I also demand exemplary punishment for the two if they’re found to be involved in the killing,” he said.

The PTI leader also demanded strict action against the facilitators of suspects.

On Monday night, Kohat commissioner Mutahir Zeb chaired a meeting of the investigation teams and issued directives for the early arrest of the prime suspect using all resources.

The meeting was attended by the DPO, SP (operations), SP (investigation) and investigators.

The commissioner asked participants to be in constant contact with the relevant officials of the FIA and other federal investigation agencies and coordinate with the Interpol to ensure the early arrest of the prime suspect.

Published in Dawn, January 31st, 2018