A sessions court in Islamabad on Wednesday carried out the hearing regarding the Noor Mukadam murder case after instructing four accused including prime accused Zahir Jaffer to appear via video link.
The court had commenced the trial of the case on Oct 20. Lawyers representing Therapyworks employees during the hearing today are Akram Qureshi and Shehzad Qureshi. Asad Jamal represented Asmat Adamjee, and Sajjad Ahmed Bhatti appeared as legal counsel of the household staff of Jaffer’s house.
At the outset of the proceedings, Akram Qureshi informed the court that his clients — incarcerated in Adiala Jail — were unable to appear for the hearing today owing to the closure of roads. Additional Sessions Judge Ata Rabbani commented that the accused may attend the proceedings through Skype.
Shah Khawar representing the complainant informed the court that the copies required by the defendants had been provided to them. The court further ordered the police to provide copies of the first statements of the accused that had been provided to law enforcers.
Zakir Jaffer switches lawyer
Zakir Jaffer, the father of prime accused Zahir, hired Advocate Basharat to plead his case and notified the court about it.
The three witnesses include constable Abid Latif, who delivered the complainant’s application, Assistant Sub Inspector Basharat, who collected the fingerprints, and police constable Aqsa Rani were all produced in the court for the purpose of cross-examination.
Latif notified the court that he collected the statement of the complainant and delivered it to Kohsar Police Station.
Defense counsel Akram inquired whether he was required to reach the spot by his higher-ups. “You said in a written statement that you received the information and in the court, you said you reached the spot on your own,” the lawyer brought up.
The witness answered there had been no senior police officers present at the time of the incident. The lawyer berated the witness, claiming he lying shamelessly.
Latif also answered in the negative when inquired whether he had arrested anyone from the crime scene.
Another witness, Basharat, informed the court that he had reached the crime scene shortly afterward where, according to him, a number of police officers had been present beforehand.
He said Inspector Abdul Sattar had told him to collect the fingerprints.
Similarly, another witness in the case Aqsa said she had examined the body [of Noor Mukadam] and updated the investigators about it.
She further informed the court that none of her higher-ups had arrested anyone from the crime scene.
After listening to the statements of the witnesses, the court ordered the police to produce four other witnesses which include map-maker Amir Shehzad, computer operator Mudassir, ASI Muhammad Riaz, and Head Constable Firasat Fahim in the next hearing scheduled for Nov 3.
