Islamabad court grants one-day remand of journalist Ayaz Amir in daughter-in-law murder case

• Islamabad court grants police one-day physical remand of senior journalist Ayaz Amir in murder case of his daughter-in-law.
• “I informed the police about the incident myself. I gave the address of the farmhouse to the SHO,” says journalist.
• There is no evidence against Ayaz Amir in murder case, argues his lawyer. 

ISLAMABAD: A district and sessions court in Islamabad on Sunday granted police one-day physical remand of senior journalist Ayaz Amir in the murder case of his daughter-in-law, a Canadian national.

The police took Ayaz Amir into custody a day after the murder of his daughter-in-law, Sarah Inam.

At the outset of today’s hearing, the police produced the noted journalist before duty judge Zahid Tirmiz. Amir apprised the court that he was in Chakwal when the murder took place.

“I informed the police about the incident myself. I gave the address of the farmhouse to the SHO,” said the journalist.

There is no evidence against Ayaz Amir in the murder case, his lawyer argued, adding that the police also confirmed that they received information about the murder by the journalist.

Urging the court to release his client, the lawyer said, “Ayaz Amir is not nominated in the FIR.”

The police, terming it a high-profile case, pleaded with the court to grant a five-day physical remand of the suspect’s father to process investigation.

The court, however, granted the police one-day physical remand of Ayaz Amira and adjourned the hearing.   

Ayaz Amir arrested 

A day earlier, police took into custody noted journalist Ayaz Amir after obtaining arrest warrants for him and his former wife in the murder case.

Amir was taken to Shahzad Town police station, where in the police report registered following the murder, an additional clause Section 109 (punishment for abetment) of the Pakistan Penal Code was added at the request of Sara's uncles — Colonel (retd) Ikram and Zia-ur-Rahim — who have blamed Amir and his former wife for their niece's murder.

Sarah Inam was allegedly killed by Amir's son, Shahnawaz, at home after a row over a "family issue" on Friday. Shahnawaz has been remanded into police custody for two days.

According to police sources, the suspect had not told Sara about his other two marriages and used to demand money from her as he is a drug addict. The sources also said that Shahnawaz fraudulently registered in his name a car Sara recently bought.

His wife demanded her money and car back after she got to know about Shahnawaz's move which escalated into a fight during which the suspect murdered his wife, the sources said.

The police sources said that the victim had not told her parents about her marriage to Shahnawaz. Sara came to Pakistan three months ago and got married to the suspect in Chakwal after getting in touch with him through social media.

Their marriage is not registered in Pakistan, said the sources, adding that Sara agreed to marry Shahnawaz because he was the son of a senior journalist.

The case

Police registered a first information report (FIR) on the complaint of Station House Officer (SHO) Nawazish Ali Khan on Friday under Section 302 (punishment for murder) of the Pakistan Penal Code (PPC).

The FIR states that the suspect's mother, Samina Shah, called the police on Friday (September 23) to inform them that her son, Shahnawaz, had killed his wife with a dumbbell.

According to the FIR, Shah told the police that her son was in the house and had hidden the body of his wife. Following this, the police raided the house.

In the complaint, the police said that Shahnawaz had locked himself inside his room and when the personnel broke inside, there were blood spots on his hands and clothes.

Once the police got hold of Shahnawaz, he, according to the FIR, confessed to hitting his wife repeatedly with a dumbbell during an argument and then later hiding the Canadian national's body in the bathtub.

The "murder weapon", the FIR quoted Shahnawaz as saying, was hidden under his bed. Police, after examining the dumbbell, reportedly found blood and hair on it. They later sent it for forensics.