RAWALPINDI: Four more people, from Ratta Amral, were questioned in connection with the assassination of Jamiat-i-Ulema Islam-Sami (JUI-S) chief Maulana Samiul Haq. The four individuals had been in contact with the JUI-S chief recently.

Investigators have collected hair of three lengths, the bed sheet with blood on it and three glasses from the crime scene in addition to other evidence. The hair and blood samples were sent to a forensic laboratory for DNA testing.

A source said the police’s information technology wing is working on the mobile phone data of the slain JUI-S leader and the calls he made before mobile phone service was suspended due to the Tehreek-i-Labbaik protest. The police are trying to reach out to people who had links with the victim.

They had been in contact with the slain JUI-S chief in the weeks before he was killed

He said the police have questioned more than 20 people including neighbours, private security guards and tubewell operators, but none of these were detained.

The police have conducted a search of the gardens in neighbouring homes and the surrounding hilly areas for the murder weapon and other evidence which could lead them to the killer.

The police have also obtained the medical examination report from the private hospital where Maulana Samiul Haq was taken and pronounced dead.

Doctors said he had died an hour before he was brought to the hospital. The medical reports include an ECG, x-rays and details of the stab wounds. All of the stabs were delivered to the upper half of the body and there were no stab wounds on the lower arms either.

The police had not received any calls from the late JUI-S leader or anyone else regarding the incident, perhaps due to suspension of mobile phone services.

However, police experts from the IT department are working on retrieving the data of incoming and outgoing phone calls on Maulana Samiul Haq’s phone.

The source said four people were in contact with the victim over the last week. They were picked up by the police from Ratta Amral and were allowed to go after being questioned in order to establish links with other people.

According to sources, a police team will likely be sent to Akora Khattak to interview the secretary of the former senator and some other individuals who had been in contact with him.

Maulana Samiul Haq’s secretary, Syed Ahmed Shah, left the JUI-S leader alone in his bedroom on the second floor of a Safari villa in Bahria Town and locked the main gate from outside before leaving for a nearby water filtration plant.

An initial police investigation suggests that Mr Shah returned after some 15 minutes to find the main gate unlocked and Maulana Samiul Haq stabbed in his bedroom.

The police think the killer may have been inside the house when Mr Shah went outside as he had locked the gate before leaving.

They said Mr Shah’s statement will help them get to the killer and the motive behind the murder.

Published in Dawn, November 7th, 2018