Daily Times

ISLAMABAD: Efforts employed to broker and out-of-court settlement in British-Pakistani citizen Barrister Fahad Malik’s murder case proved to have gone down the drain, as the police on Saturday arrested Nauman Khokhar, the main accused.

Additional Sessions Judge Pervaizul Qadir Memon directed the police to arrest the accused after his interim bail was not extended. The accused has been sent to the lock-up, while the local police also failed to help him in getting his interim bail extended. On top of it, the judge transferred the case to an anti-terrorism court (ATC), making it harder for UC 23 Chairman Muhammad Jamil to broker a deal between the two parties.

Jamil was highly active in brokering a compromise, and had spent million of rupees in greasing the palms of the police and the administration. He is reportedly the frontman of Imtiaz Ali alias Taji Khokhar and has paid millions of rupees to the police and others as bribe to seek favour in the case, including removal of footage of the crime scene.

After the rejection of the bail application, the lawyers of the accused raised a hue and cry in the courtroom, which prompted the judge to summon the security to control the unexpected situation.

During the proceedings of the case, DSP Bashir Noon told the court that the accused was not cooperating with the police, and it was compulsory to arrest him so the police could interrogate him easily. On the other hand, counsel for the accused Zafar Khakar requested the court to extend the pre-arrest bail by another day because today (Sunday) was a weekend.

However, the court rejected the request, on which the lawyer got angry and started shouting in the courtroom along with his fellow lawyers. He accused the judge of being biased and wanted another judge to hear the case. When the situation deteriorated, the sessions judge called in security.

Meanwhile, the police arrested Nauman Khokhar and shifted him to the Shalimar Police Station.