ISLAMABAD: The police on Saturday claimed that the DNA test and fingerprints of the accused Zahir Jaffar showed his involvement in the murder of Noor Mukaddam.

They said that photogrammetry tests conducted on a video in which Noor Mukaddam was seen making efforts to save her life and being chased by the accused confirmed that it was genuine.

The footage had been sent to the Punjab Forensic Science Agency, Lahore, to find out if the video was genuine.

A senior police officer told Dawn that investigators had obtained the footage of a CCTV camera installed in the neighbourhood of the accused’s house which revealed that the victim in an effort to save her life had jumped from the first floor of the house and ran towards the main gate, but found it locked.

Shortly afterwards, she took shelter in a guard’s room, but the accused broke the door and dragged her inside the house, he said.

Moreover, he said, samples collected from the knife, used as a murder weapon and the blood stains also matched with the victim, the officers said, adding that fingerprints on the murder weapon matched the fingerprints of the accused.

He also disclosed that the gardener, who was present in the house at the time of the crime, had confirmed during the interrogation that he had seen the victim jumping from the first floor and the scenes in the video footage.

He told the investigators that he heard the yelling of the victim when she was subjected to torture inside the house and crying for help, the officer said.

Media Director and Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP) Dr Syed Mustafa Tanweer, could not be contacted for official comments despite repeated attempts.

Noor, 27, the daughter of former Pakistani diplomat Shaukat Mukaddam, was found murdered at a house in Islamabad’s upscale Sector F-7/4 on July 20. A first information report was registered the same day against Zahir Jaffer, who was arrested from the site of the murder, under Section 302 of the Pakistan Penal Code on the complaint of the victim’s father.

Published in Dawn, August 15th, 2021