PESHAWAR: The brother of medical student Asma Rani, who was killed in Kohat last month, on Monday requested Peshawar High Court that the ‘killers’ and their family members were influential, therefore, the bail petition of arrested suspects and the trial may be shifted to Peshawar from Kohat district.

A petition filed by Asma’s brother Mohammad Irfan in the high court stated that the suspects had committed brutal murder of his sister by firing at her on January 27.

The prime suspect in the case, Mujahidullah, had along with his brother Sadiqullah, allegedly opened fire at Asma as she had turned down his marriage proposal. Following the occurrence, the prime suspect fled to Saudi Arabia. Now Interpol has issued his red warrants placing him in the list of wanted persons.Asma had named Mujahidullah as her killer in her dying declaration. The petition is filed through senior advocate Ghulam Mohiuddin Malik and Mohammad Farooq Malik.

The petitioner states that his sister was a student of third year at a medical college in Abbottabad and on the day of occurrence she had come to Kohat on weekend.

He states that the suspects are permanent residents of Kohat and belong to influential political family as one of their close relative is the district president of Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf, the ruling party in the province, whereas another one is an MNA.

The petitioner claims that several of the relatives of the suspects are practicing lawyers and the petitioner tried his level best to engage a counsel in Kohat but no one accepted his case.

“The accused party is holding field in the area, they are mighty, influential and possessing great strength in the local area,” the petitioner claims. He states that on each date of hearing they are hostile, come to the court with number of their supporters, putting petitioner and his relatives under pressure. He adds that they have been creating hostile atmosphere and life threat to the petitioner.

He states that it has become difficult for him and his family to pursue the bail petitions filed by the arrested suspect as well as the trial of the case, which would start later. Therefore, he requests the high court to transfer all the cases related to the murder of his sister to Peshawar from Kohat.

It is worth mentioning that after the occurrence, Kohat police arrested the co-accused, Sadiqullah, and also allegedly recovered a 30 bore pistol from his possession, which was used in the offence.

Subsequently, police arrested another suspect named Shahzeb, who had allegedly helped Mujahidullah in escaping to Saudi Arabia. Police claimed that on his pinpointing they recovered a motorcycle used in the offence from his house as well as the vehicle in which Mujahidullah had escaped.

Following the occurrence, police approached Interpol through FIA for issuing red warrants of Mujahidullah.

Published in Dawn, February 20th, 2018