Arif Khan, a primary suspect in the lynching of Mardan university student Mashal Khan last year, pleaded not guilty to the charges brought against him by an Anti-Terrorism Court (ATC) on Monday, DawnNewsTV reported.

In a video that surfaced after the lynching, Arif was seen warning a crowd to keep the name of the person who shot Mashal a secret.

A Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) tehsil councillor, Arif was arrested last week by a special operations team of police in Mardan. Sources said Arif had escaped to Turkey following the lynching and was arrested once he returned home only recently, 10 months after the April 13 lynching at Mardan's Abdul Wali Khan University.

The suspect was sent to jail on 14-day judicial remand.

Explore: Mardan police admit PTI councillor involved in Mashal Khan lynching still at large

Mashal, a student of mass communication, was lynched by a mob of students, university staff and outsiders last year after he was wrongly accused of committing blasphemy.

An Abbottabad ATC last month handed the man who shot Mashal, Imran Ali, a death sentence on two counts. Five other accused were given multiple terms of life imprisonment, and 25 were handed down jail sentences. Twenty-six other accused were acquitted due to lack of evidence.

Later in February, the Peshawar High Court suspended the three-year jail terms handed down to 25 convicts and ordered their release on bail.