ISLAMABAD: A court here on Monday extended the physical remand of Ayaz Amir and his son Shahnawaz Amir in the murder case of the latter’s Canadian national spouse while the father of the suspect disassociated himself from the crime.

Shahzad Town police produced Ayaz Amir and Shahnawaz before senior civil judge/judicial magistrate Amir Aziz Khan and sought their custody for seven days.

The investigation officer told the court that the police required Shahnawaz’s custody to recover the passport of the deceased, Sarah Inam, and details of transactions of amount he had received from her from time to time.

Earlier, the police said Shahnawaz had a brawl with his wife after she learnt that he had fraudulently got her Mercedes transferred in his name.

On court’s query for implicating Ayaz Amir in the case, the police said the uncle and aunt of the deceased had lodged a complaint against him.

Ayaz Amir argued before the judge that he had no involvement in the murder case.

He said he received information about the incident at about 9:15am and promptly informed the police about the murder and the address of the crime scene, adding he also asked his ex-wife Samina Shah not to let Shahnawaz go from the home at any cost.

He insisted that the police could not invoke Section 109 of the Pakistan Penal Code (PPC) against him for abetting in the murder case.

The judge, however, extended the physical remand of Mr Amir for another day and gave the custody of his son to the police for three days.

During the course of hearing, law officer of the Islamabad police Tahir Kazim told the court that Ayaz Amir and his ex-wife had been booked for allegedly hatching a conspiracy to kill their daughter-in-law.

He said the parents of the deceased were set to reach Pakistan from Canada on Tuesday to pursue the case and the police were expecting some evidence against the suspects.

Suspect’s mother granted bail

Meanwhile, additional district and sessions judge (ADSJ) Sheikh Sohail granted pre-arrest interim bail to Samina Shah, mother of Shahnawaz, till Sept 28.

Ms Shah along with her ex-husband has been nominated as co-accused in the murder case under section 109 of the Pakistan Penal Code. The court adjourned further hearing till Sept 28.

Published in Dawn, September 27th, 2022