Sarah Inam murder: No evidence against Ayaz Amir, says court

ISLAMABAD: A district and sessions court in Islamabad discharged on Tuesday senior journalist Ayaz Amir from the murder case of his daughter-in-law, Sarah Inam after finding no evidence against him.

Shahnawaz, Ayaz Amir's son, allegedly killed his wife Sarah at home after a row over a dispute on September 23.

He was detained by the police from a farmhouse in Islamabad's Chak Shahzad area for being a suspect in his wife's murder and later confessed to killing her, saying he "thought" his spouse was having an affair. The couple was married for just three months.

On Saturday, a trial court approved the arrest warrants of Ayaz Amir and his former wife Sameena Shah, as the two were nominated as suspects by Sarah's family. Amir was arrested while his former wife later acquired pre-arrest bail.

The petitioners maintained that Sameena was living at the farmhouse where Sarah was murdered.

Today's hearing

Ayaz Amir was presented before the court after completion of his one-day physical remand earlier in the day.

At the outset of the hearing, the police requested the court to grant a five-day extension in the physical remand of Ayaz for further interrogation.

The police informed the court about the progress in the investigation, saying that Ayaz Amir came in contact with prime suspect Shahnawaz. They said Sarah's parents have reached Pakistan.

Meanwhile, Ayaz Amir's lawyer maintained that his client doesn't have to do anything with this case and so, should be dismissed from it.

He said that the police arrested the senior journalist after getting approval of arrest warrants from the court.

"What evidence does the Islamabad Police have against Ayaz Amir?" he asked, adding that anyone travelling from abroad cannot be a witness in the case.

The lawyer reiterated that Ayaz was in Chakwal at the time of the murder and that he informed the police about the murder once he found out himself.

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.

The victim's body has been sent to the Polyclinic Hospital for postmortem, the FIR added.