ISLAMABAD: The Noor Mukadam murder case took another turn on Monday as the investigating officer told the court that the knife used in his murder did not bear the fingerprints of main accused in the case, Zaheer Jafar, local media reported.
During the hearing of the case headed by Islamabad District and Sessions Court Judge Atta Rabbani, Investigating Officer (IO) Abdul Sattar said that Zaheer was included in the investigation as Noor's body was found from his house.
However, barring the forensic report, there were no eyewitnesses before the police, they said during the cross-examination by the defendant's lawyer, Sikandar Zulqarnain. Further, the IO told the court that there were no blood stains on Jafar's pants.
Mukadam, the daughter of a former Pakistani diplomat, was beheaded at a residence in the upscale F-7/4 neighborhood of Islamabad. Unlike any other recent crime against women, this case has garnered public outrage and headlines. The main accused was arrested on the day of the murder from the crime scene - where he was tied up by workers of a counseling center - and handed over to the police. He has been in Rawalpindi's Adiala Jail since then.
In August 2021, a forensic report prepared by the Punjab Forensic Science Agency confirmed that the fingerprints obtained from the weapon - found at the site where Noor was killed - belonged to Zaheer Jafar.
During the cross-examination of Monday's hearing, the IO narrated the details of the incident that took place on the intervening night of July 20 to 21, 2021. Police investigation reveals that there are many flaws in it.
A team of police officers including constables Sikander Hayat, Abid Latif and Etijaz, ASI Zubair Mazhar, lady constable Aksa Rani reached the spot where the complainant Shaukat Mukadam, Noor's father, was present along with his relatives, the IO said. . The IO clarified that earlier he had written in the police diary that ASI Mazhar had accompanied him to the spot but this was not true. Abdul Sattar told that he had already reached there.
As the counsel for the respondent interrogated the officer about the timing of the murder, the IO stated that Noor's body was taken to the morgue from Zaheer's house in Sector F-7, Islamabad at 11:45 pm on July 20. According to his death certificate obtained from the Polyclinic Hospital in Islamabad, he was murdered on July 21 at 12:10 am.
He also referred to another document provided by the hospital doctor in which Noor's body reached the hospital at 12:10 am on July 21.
Talking about the presence of the defendant at the crime scene, the IO said, neither did Zaheer's presence in the crime map nor did it have a crypt. The police did not record the IMEI number of Noor's mobile phone, while they took the victim's father and his friend Jawad Jahan to recover the deceased woman's mobile phone, they told the court.
The statements of neighbors and watchmen of adjoining bungalows were not recorded during investigation, he said, adding that video recordings of CCTV cameras installed at other places in the house were not logged as evidence.
During Monday's hearing, Zaheer sat down on the courtroom floor with his head bowed to one side. In the last two hearings, Jaffer was once taken to a chair, while in the last hearing he was brought to the courtroom on a stretcher. He has since been deemed medically fit for the test.
Later, the court adjourned the hearing of the matter till January 26. The 27-year-old victim, Noor Muqadam, was brutally murdered at Jafar's house in Islamabad on July 20, 2021. Zaheer, his parents, his domestic staff and six members of a counseling and psychotherapy centre, Therapy Works, have been charged in the case on October 14.