PESHAWAR: A single-member Peshawar High Court bench on Monday ordered the transfer of the hearing into the bail pleas of the Asma Rani murder case suspects from a Kohat court to Peshawar’s.

Chief Justice Yahya Afridi issued the orders on the petition of a brother of the deceased, a medical college student, observing that the district and sessions judge of the provincial capital will begin hearing into the bail petitions on Mar 13. Petitioner Mohammad Irfan claimed that the murder suspects were influential people and therefore, it was not possible for his family to pursue the case in Kohat.

The prime suspect in the case, Mujahidullah, had along with his brother, Sadiqullah, allegedly fired gunshots at Asma Rani on Jan 27 for rejecting his marriage proposal and fled to Saudi Arabia.

The Interpol has issued the ‘Red Notice’ placing him in list of wanted persons. The deceased, Asma, had named Mujahidullah as her killer in her dying declaration.

Ghulam Mohiuddin Malik, lawyer for the petitioner, said his client’s sister was a student of third year at the International Medical College, Abbottabad, and had returned to Kohat on the day of her murder to spend weekend with family.

He said the suspected killers were permanent residents of Kohat and belonged to an influential political family as one of their close relative was the district president of the ruling Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf, whereas another was an MNA.

The lawyer said as several relatives of the suspects were lawyers, his petitioner tried his level best to hire a lawyer in Kohat, but to no avail.

He said on every hearing, the accused were hostile and came to the court along with a large number of their supporters pressing his client and relatives.

The lawyer said the suspects were creating a hostile atmosphere and life threats for the petitioner.

He said it had become difficult for the petitioner and his family to challenge the bail petitions of suspects.

The lawyer requested the high court to transfer all cases related to the said murder to Peshawar from Kohat.

The Kohat police had arrested the co-accused in the case, Sadiqullah, and seized a 30-bore pistol reportedly used for the murder.

They later arrested another suspect, Shahzeb, who had allegedly helped Mujahidullah in escaping to Saudi Arabia. The police claimed that on Shahzeb’s pointation, they had recovered a motorcycle used in the crime and the vehicle used by Mujahidullah to escape.

They also said they had approached the Interpol through the Federal Investigation Agency for issuing the red warrants for the arrest of the absconding prime accused.

Published in Dawn, March 6th, 2018