Islamabad police on Tuesday clarified the progress in the Noor Mukadam murder case by revealing that at the time of arrest, the shirt of the primary accused, Zahir Jaffer, was stained with the victim’s blood.
It is to note that the police’s statement comes a day after the investigation officer (IO), during his cross-examination by Zahir’s lawyer, told an Islamabad court that there were no bloodstains on Zahir’s pants when he was arrested and that he did not get the photo collected from the digital video recorder (DVR) vetted through a photogrammetry test.
He further stated that the National Forensic Science Agency (NFSA) did not find Zahir’s fingerprints on the knife, which was the murder weapon.
However, according to a statement issued by the police today, Islamabad IG Mohammad Ahsan Younas held a meeting to review the progress of the case “in context of yesterday’s proceedings and media reports” and also asked senior officers to “explain the proceedings”.
Explaining the lack of fingerprints on the murder weapon, he stated that while there were no fingerprints found on the knife recovered from the crime scene, other forensic findings did point towards the involvement of the primary accused.
The statement further revealed that as per the Punjab Forensic Science Agency (PFSA) report, the pants were not stained but “the shirt of the accused was stained with the blood of the victim”.
“The knife recovered from the crime scene was taken into custody, sealed by NFSA and sent to PFSA for fingerprints which could not be developed by the latter. But the report confirmed [the] blood of Noor on the knife,” the statement said.
Regarding the photogrammetry test for identifying the victim, police said that it was not conducted as it is used to identify the accused only “so that he could not negate his presence at the crime scene”.
“The detailed report of the PFSA is yet to be read on the next hearing which contains comprehensive forensic evidence, sufficient for the conviction of the accused. The crime scene was visited by senior most officers at the time of occurrence and [the] scene was completely preserved by forensic experts of NFSA to avoid any contamination,” the statement added.
The statement also highlighted five facts that had been confirmed by the reports from the PFSA, including the fact that Noor was raped before being killed.
The shirt worn by and recovered from Zahir was stained with Noor’s blood and her DNA was also found on his shirt. Police also said that Noor was killed with the Swiss knife recovered from the crime scene as her blood had been found on the blade and handle.
“(She) made every possible attempt to save her life before being killed,” the police said, adding that Zahir’s DNA, i.e. his skin, had been found under her nails.
Noor was also attacked with a knuckleduster recovered from the crime scene, the statement added.
“All these forensic pieces of evidence were collected from the crime scene in a professional manner and were sent to PFSA. These are very strong pieces of forensic evidence and the investigation team is committed to seek justice for Noor,” the police statement said.
The IG also directed officials to follow the case “in the best possible manner”, adding that he should be briefed regularly in this regard. The meeting was attended by the DIG Operations, the chief prosecutor, SSP Investigation, SP Investigation, DSP Legal and IO of the case.
