RAWALPINDI: Murder charges against Syed Ahmed Shah, secretary to late senator Maulana Samiul Haq, were dropped by a judicial magistrate on Thursday after Haq’s sons told the court that they were not accusing him of their father’s murder.

Mr Shah was arrested for murder on Feb 28 by the Airport police and presented before the court of a judicial magistrate for physical remand.

He was remanded into police custody for four days, which was then extended for two more days on Friday because the police said they wanted to interrogate him further, as previous interrogations had not revealed anything they could use to charge him with murder or to help find the real killer.

The six-day remand ended on Thursday, when Mr Shah was produced before judicial magistrate Zaib Shahzad Cheema.

Haq’s sons Maulana Hamidul Haq and Hafiz Rashidul Haq also appeared in court, where they submitted an affidavit stating that Mr Shah was not an accused in their father’s murder.

Maulana Hamidul Haq confirmed to Dawn that he appeared in court along with his brother.

“We prayed to the court that Ahmed Shah was not our accused as a superpower was involved in the murder of our father, therefore, we do not want to charge any innocent person with murder,” he said, adding that the magistrate dropped the charges after their affidavit was submitted in the court.

He added that the police have assured him the case has not been closed and investigations into Haq’s murder will continue.

Regional Police Officer Ahmed Ishaq Jhangeer told Dawn that Mr Shah’s arrest came about after he failed a polygraph test and after he made inconsistent statements.

Mr Shah had been staying with Haq when he was stabbed to death by unidentified individuals in Bahria Town Safari II on Nov 2, 2018.

Mr Shah had said in an earlier statement that he had left the house, locking the gate from outside, to fetch water from a filtration plant. During this time unidentified individuals entered the house, stabbed Haq and escaped.

He later changed his statement and said he did not lock the gate when he left.

Police have been tight lipped on progress in the murder case thus far.

Published in Dawn, March 8th, 2019