KOHAT: The local police said they had arrested the prime accused in the Hina Shahnawaz murder case during a routine patrol in Ustarzai area on Tuesday.

The accused, Mehboob Alam, was nominated in the FIR registered by Mehreen, sister of Hina Shahnawaz, after her murder on Feb 6. He had since been absconding.

Another accused nominated in the case, Mehran Ali, is still at large and police are trying to arrest him.

The police have already arrested six members of a jirga which took the decision of killing Ms Shahnawaz, the NGO worker. All the accused are the cousins of the victim, and they opposed her doing a job in the NGO.

When contacted, Ustarzai police SHO Afzal Awan told Dawn that Mehboob was arrested during a routine patrol. He said the accused would be produced in the court today (Wednesday) to seek his physical remand for interrogation.

The DPO had replaced two SHOs for their inability to arrest the culprits and appointed Afzal Awan for solving the high profile case.

It may be mentioned here that the six accused, including Riaz Ali, Mosham Ali, Zulfiqar Ali alias Bhutto, Shah Alam, Moazim Ali and Hamad, who were arrested in raids in Rawalpindi and Kohat, have already denied their involvement in the case before the judge.

Published in Dawn, March 1st, 2017