ISLAMABAD, Feb 21: Anti-Terrorism Court (ATC) on Tuesday refused to set the accused in Shahbaz Bhatti murder case free and again gave him to the police with the direction to produce him on Wednesday along with the complainant, police said.

The police produced the accused in the court with the request to let him go as nothing had been found against him. However, the judge said since the complainant, Sikandar Bhatti, had nominated him in the case, his satisfaction with the investigation was necessary.

Later the accused, Malik Abid, was given in police custody on one day physical remand. Abid was arrested by capital police from Lahore airport on February 14. The sources said that during interrogation Abid said he was in Singapore at the time of Bhatti’s assassination and provided some documentary evidence in this regard.

He is a businessman and deals in spare part of tractors, the sources said.

During his seven-day physical remand, the minister’s family, including the complainant were approached and asked for a meeting with the accused but they refused saying they have confidence in police investigation.

The sources said that investigators were looking for two suspected murderers identified through the pamphlets found at the site of the incident. —Staff Reporter