JUSTICE IQBAL’S PARENTS’ MURDER – Police starts to ponder

LAHORE – Lahore Police on Wednesday initiated an inquiry in the murder case of Supreme Court Justice Javed Iqbal’s parents. Investigators have collected blood samples for DNA test and finger prints of the three ladies and two security guards, whom the police had taken into custody for interrogation, to match with the samples of Justice Iqbal’s parents to find the killers.
The police officials have decided to collect blood samples and finger prints of all the guests who visited Justice Iqbal’s parents as well. On Tuesday, retired police DIG-turned-homeopath Abdul Hameed and his wife Amna, residents of House No 164, Street No 7, Cavalry Grounds, Lahore, were found murdered in the living room of their house under mysterious circumstances. The elderly couple’s bodies were discovered when two young women as tenants in the upper portion of their house, returned home from work on Tuesday evening between 6 and 7pm.
The incident has left the citizens and the judiciary shocked, raising all sorts of rumors about the motives behind the crime. Lawyers said the mishap could be more than a routine murder and should be examined from all angles.
FIGURING OUT: Police sources told Pakistan Today that although the investigators have started the investigation after registering a dacoity-cum-murder case on the complaint of Justice Iqbal’ brother, Col (r) Saeed Ahmed, against the unidentified in the Factory Area Police Station but investigators are still trying to figure out whether it was a murder or a dacoity-cum-murder.
Investigators told Pakistan Today that in case of a dacoity-cum-murder, they will focus on local criminals, who could have committed the crime with the help of house servants, but if the incident turns out to be a simple murder then it will be an open ended case.
Sources said investigators will work on different lines and will take into account if the family was facing any external or internal threat. The investigators will look out if the assassin attempted to send a message to the judiciary, which at the moment was hearing some tricky cases; missing persons’ case and NRO, with Justice Iqbal’s reputation as an honest and outspoken jurist.
POINT TO PONDER: According to an investigator, evidence showed that murderers did not touch anything, suggesting that the motives were not to commit any robbery. He said many valuables like saving certificates worth Rs 10 million were untouched.
ARRESTS, INTERROGATIONS: Sources said that during the course of interrogations, investigators have questioned five people including three women, out of which two are working women; Saima and Iram, who are staying in upper portion of the slain couple’s house, one is a maid, Farzana, and two watchmen, Iftikhar and another. “Five people (as mentioned) told investigators that they did not witness anyone entering the house,” said sources.
Sources said that Justice Iqbal’s father had registered an FIR against a maid on theft charges about a month ago in Factory Area Police Station. Police recently has arrested a woman, Mariam, who is suspected to be the same maid, against which the deceased had registered an FIR. The police are now probing Mariam’s involvement in the murder as well. Police have also arrested three other men, who had approached the deceased to buy their house a few months ago.
STRANGULATED: Meanwhile, Police has handed over the bodies to their heirs after autopsies, who laid both of them to rest after funerals. A member of investigation team, on anonymity, said the investigators have received Abdul Hameed’s, Justice Iqbal’s father, initial autopsy report while they are expecting to receive Amna’s, Justice Iqbal’s mother, report in late hours of Wednesday.
An investigator said the initial autopsy report has only proved that the deceased died of suffocation when the assassins pressed pillows on their faces. He said according to doctors, assassins did not torture the couple before killing, however few bruises were observed on different parts of the bodies. He said the couple was murdered between 4 to 5 pm on Tuesday and they will receive the final autopsy report in the next fifteen to twenty days after chemical examination. Superintendent of Police Cantonment Division (Investigation Wing) Syed Ameen Bukhari while talking to Pakistan Today said though the investigators will soon trace the criminals involved. He too said the reasons behind the murder were not clear.