KARACHI: A local court on Thursday remanded to police a brother of the prime suspect in a case pertaining to murder of TV anchor Mureed Abbas and another person allegedly over a financial dispute.

Police had arrested Adil Zaman from a hotel on Monday over his alleged involvement in the murder of Mureed Abbas and Khizar Hayat allegedly by his brother Atif Zaman in Khayaban-i-Bukhari, DHA, on the night of July 9.

On Thursday, the investigating officer produced the suspect before a judicial magistrate (South) to seek his physical remand in police custody.

The IO informed that the suspect was hiding since his brother Atif Zaman allegedly committed murder of his business partners, as he was also seen with him at the time the offence was committed.

He added that a gun used by prime suspect Atif was yet to be recovered on the information of Adil and other legal formalities also had to be completed.

Therefore, he asked the judge to grant physical remand of the suspect in police custody for two weeks.

However, the judge remanded the suspect in police custody for three days with direction to produce him on the next date along with an investigation report. Last week, the district and sessions judge (South) had summoned the prosecution witnesses to record their testimonies in the double murder case allegedly revolving around shady investments scam worth billions of rupees.

Main accused involved in financial scam, says NAB

The main accused in the murder case of the TV anchor and his friend was involved in a financial scam, said the National Accountability Bureau Karachi.

The anti-graft body has been probing into the financial aspect of the murder of TV anchor Mureed Abbas and his friend at the hands of accused Atif Zaman on the request of the police as both were gunned down in Defence over a business dispute.

During the initial probe by NAB, it transpired that the arrested accused was allegedly involved in committing fraud with the general public and so far over two dozen affected people have approached NAB.

According to a NAB spokesperson, on directions of NAB chairman retired Justice Javed Iqbal, a meeting was conducted at the NAB Karachi under the chair of DG retired Brig Farooq Naser Awan wherein the latest progress was shared by NAB investigation team regarding the inquiry against Atif Zaman in the Mureed Abbas murder case.

The meeting participants were apprised by the investigation team that Atif Zaman was the “mastermind of a financial scam” who deceived a large number of people by collecting huge investments from the general public and others.

“He allegedly defrauded general public [of] their hard-earned money through Ponzi schemes namely Zaid Enterprises and Infinity Import Solutions by offering attractive monthly returns, under the garb of investments in tyres, which involve a large number of people as victims/affectees,” a statement issued after the meeting said.

It was also told that a public notice was published by NAB in leading newspapers to call the affected people of the said financial scam for submitting their claims regarding the defrauded amounts and recording their statements, subsequent to which so far some 30 affected people contacted NAB Karachi.

The DG NAB Karachi issued further instructions to the investigation team to expedite the inquiry as per law and conduct day-to-day proceedings in order to complete the inquiry within prescribed time period and unearth the illegal assets accumulated by Atif Zaman and his accomplices.

It was also directed that the affectees/victims of this scam may be informed through all possible legal channels of communication including “affectees of media” to contact NAB for lodging their claims along with solid evidence of their claims, etc.

Published in Dawn, October 11th, 2019