As many as ten suspects on Tuesday refused to accept charges laid against them in the Mashal Khan lynching case.
According to reports, two staffers and eight students of Abdul Wali Khan University were brought in court after completion of their remand. The defendants rejected the charges before the magistrate, however, the judge ordered to send the suspects back to jail on judicial remand till May 16.
The police have informed that 47 of the 49 accused in the case have been arrested for their alleged role in the lynching and were in jail on judicial remand; however, two suspects, including a councillor were on the run.
The Mardan DPO had stated earlier that there were reports indicating the two absconding accused were hiding in tribal areas. The prime suspect in the murder case, Imran confessed to his crime before a city magistrate.
In his confessional statement, Imran said that he opened fire at Mashal because the deceased was guilty of blasphemy and he did not regret killing him.
Imran, a fellow student of Mashal, had fired three shots at Mashal Khan, of which two hit the deceased. The pistol used in the murder has also been seized.
The shooter was presented in an anti-terrorism court on Friday and remanded in police custody for four days along with other five other suspects. Mashal Khan a student at the Abdul Wali Khan University in Mardan was lynched by an angry mob on the premises of the University after being accused of blasphemy.
