ISLAMABAD: The defence counsel in Noor Mukadam murder case claimed that his client Zakir Jaffer, father of Zahir Jaffer, was taken into custody despite the fact that he was not nominated as accused in the FIR registered on July 20 and even he was not present in the city on that day.

Khawja Haris, counsel for Zakir Jaffer, on Wednesday while reading the FIR before the Islamabad High Court (IHC) Justice Aamer Farooq said that parents of Zahir Jaffer had no role in Noor Mukadam’s murder as they were in Karachi. Zakir even condemned the incident, he added.

He informed the court that police arrested Zakir and his spouse Asmat Adamjee on July 24.

According to the counsel, the FIR was registered on murder charges. However, the police added offences of concealing of evidence and abetment later on.

Justice Farooq inquired whether the charge-sheet in this case had been submitted in the trial court.

Shah Khawar, counsel for Shaukat Mukadam, father of Noor Mukadam, told the court that the charge-sheet had been submitted before the trial court adding that the police had accused Zakir Jaffer of abetting in the crime.

The police challan claimed that on July 20, Zahir Jaffer and Noor went into brawl after the latter refused to marry him and then the accused illegally detained her in the room.

Referring to the Call Detail Record (CDR), the challan stated that before killing and beheading Noor, Zahir made at least four calls to her parents at 2:21pm, 3pm, 6:35pm and 7:29pm. “Noor Mukadam’s murder could have been averted had Zahir Jaffer timely informed the police”, it said.

The challan said in order to conceal the evidence and the body of Noor, Zakir Jaffer sent five Therapyworks employees to his F-7/4 residence - the crime scene of gruesome murder. When the Therapyworks employees tried to enter the room, Zahir got confused and attacked them. One worker Amjad Mehmood got injured and shifted to the hospital. The injured worker lied to the hospital administration and gave road accident as the reason of his injury.

According to the challan, the parents and the Therapyworks employees tried to conceal the crime and attempted to destroy the evidence.

Advocate Haris argued that the addition of sections of the Pakistan Penal Code related to concealing/destroying evidence and abetment was an afterthought as police added the offences two days after the registration of the FIR.

The court then adjourned the haring till Thursday (today). The defence counsel would continue arguments on Thursday.

Published in Dawn, September 16th, 2021