ISLAMABAD: A district and sessions court in Islamabad on Saturday extended for two days the physical remand of a prime suspect in the cold-blooded murder of a former diplomat’s daughter.
Noor Mukadam, 27, was found murdered at the residence of Zahir Zakir in Sector F-7/4 of Islamabad on Tuesday. Zakir, widely believed to be the killer, was arrested the same day for his purported involvement in the gruesome incident.
A first information report was registered late on Tuesday and nominated Zakir under Section 302 (premeditated murder) of the Pakistan Penal Code on the complaint of Ambassador Shaukat Mukadam.
The suspect was produced in the judicial magistrate’s court on Saturday on the completion of his previous three-day remand. After hearing arguments, the judge extended the remand for another two days, ordering that he be produced in court again on Monday.
“Accused is nominated in the FIR and he is charged with heinous offence, therefore for the purpose of recovery and investigation two days physical remand is granted,” said the court order.
Sajid Cheema, the prosecutor in the case, told the court that the murder weapon — a knife — along with a pistol and a knuckleduster were recovered from the suspect’s custody.
Cheema informed the court that cellphones, both Zakir’s and Noor’s, still needed to be recovered from the suspect’s custody, requesting it to grant an extension of 11 days in the remand period.
Earlier on Friday, Islamabad police chief Qazi Jamilur Rehman instructed the investigation team probing the murder to seek the placement of Zakir’s name on the Exit Control List to keep him from fleeing the country.
The Investigators are also seeking the suspect’s criminal record, if any, from the United States and the United Kingdom.
