New twist in Noor Mukadam case: Zahir Jaffer pleads not guilty

• Zahir Jaffer's lawyer submits his client’s response to questionnaire given by court.
• Zahir Jaffer claims Noor Mukadam was killed by someone else at a "drug party" at his place. 
• Accused claims victim’s father got him involved in case by pressurising police.

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ISLAMABAD: The Noor Mukadam murder case took a new turn on Wednesday after main accused Zahir Jaffer pleaded not guilty to the crime, Geo News reported.

On behalf of the main accused, his lawyer submitted his client’s defence in the case in a questionnaire given by the court.

Zahir told the court that he was in a "relationship" with the victim for a long time and both the families also knew each other. However, he clarified that he was “not in touch with Noor for six months."

“On July 18, she voluntarily came to my house with a huge quantity of drugs. Noor told me to host a drug party and I refused,” said Zahir.

The accused then claimed before the court that on July 20 the victim invited her friends to the said party. He added he was alone at home at the time, as his parents and other family members were in Karachi for Eid celebrations.

“A few hours later when I woke up, I found myself tied in my lounge,” said Jaffer, adding that after a few minutes, uniformed police and people in civil clothes “rescued” him.

“When I was rescued, I got to know that Noor was murdered by someone attending the drug party or someone else murdered her,” said Jaffer. 

He also claimed that the victim’s father is an “influential” person and got him involved in the case by pressurising the police.  

Court dismisses all three petitions of Zahir Jaffer against IG Islamabad

Earlier this week, a district and sessions court in Islamabad dismissed all the three petitions put forward by Zahir Jaffer.

On February 3, Zahir Jaffer's advocate Sikandar Zulqarnain had filed three petitions in the court, one of them against the IG Islamabad after the Islamabad police issued a statement regarding "sufficient evidence against Zahir".

In one of the petitions, the court was asked to direct the Inspector General (IG) of Islamabad Police Ahsan Younas to proceed with the case "legally" and "clarify the strong evidence against Jaffer."

In the second petition, it was said that the phone number mentioned by the complainant Shaukat Mukadam should be verified.

The third application filed by the advocate said that the map of the crime scene should be corrected as “it is wrong” and legal action should be taken against the investigation officer (IO). 

The murder

The prime suspect in the murder of Noor Mukadam, Zahir, was formally charged for the crime by an Islamabad court in October 2021. Besides him, two of the family's employees — Jamil and Jan Mohammad — were also indicted, along with Zahoor.

Noor Mukadam, a 27-year-old woman, was murdered on July 20 within the limits of the ​Kohsar police station in Islamabad's F-7 area.

A case of murder was later registered at the same police station by Noor's father, former Pakistani ambassador Shaukat Ali Mukadam.

The Islamabad police arrested suspect Zahir on the night of July 20 from his house where, according to Noor's parents, he killed her with a sharp instrument and severed her head.