Officer Probing Qandeel’s Murder Suspended
MULTAN/LAHORE: The Multan City Police Officer suspended an officer investigating the murder of model Qandeel Baloch for showing negligence.
The social media celebrity was strangled to death, allegedly by her brother in the name of honour.
CPO Azhar Akram summoned Muzaffarabad police station SHO Saeed Gujjar and investigation officer Ilyas Haider to his office and asked why Qandeel’s brother Waseem had been produced before an area magistrate only a day after a local court had granted his three-day physical remand. After hearing them, the CPO suspended the investigation officer and handed over the task of probe to a woman inspector, Attiya Jaffari.
Since the magistrate sent the suspect on a 14-day judicial remand, police could not take him to a forensic lab in Lahore for DNA and polygraph tests to complete the investigation. Police later filed an appeal in the court to get physical remand of the suspect.
According to a police officer, the course of investigation requires DNA and polygraph tests to verify, establish and evaluate the truthfulness of statements of a suspect.
Polygraph (usually referred to as a lie detector) is an instrument which measures and records physiological changes in blood pressure, pulse, respiration and skin conductivity while the subject answers a series of questions, in an anticipation that deceptive answers will produce physiological responses that can be differentiated from those associated with non-deceptive answers.
CPO Akram said the new female investigation officer had issued notices to various people, including Mufti Abdul Qavi and the slain model’s former husband Ashiq Hussain, under Section 160 of the Pakistan Penal Code in the light of the statement of Qandeel’s mother.
He said police had obtained the mobile phone data of Qandeel and her brother and would take the suspect to the forensic lab for DNA and other clinical tests.
The CPO said he had constituted two teams headed by the SSP operations and prosecutors would also be consulted to make the challan effective. He said police were also considering hiring the services of a private criminal lawyer.
“We are preparing the case in a way that its trial is concluded within three months,” he said, adding that a letter had been dispatched to the Karachi Corps Commander for recording the statement of Aslam Shaheen, the elder brother of Qandeel, who is serving in the army there.
The CPO disclosed that suspect Waseem had made calls to some people soon after the murder.
Meanwhile, Qandeel’s father Mohammad Azam and mother Anwar Bibi said the name of Aslam Shaheen was included in the FIR by them mistakenly and they would request the court to exclude his name from the case. They said they would ensure that Waseem was punished.
This news was previously published in DAWN and is being republished here with permission.
