Police nab accomplice of the prime suspect in Asma murder case

KOHAT: Police have claimed on Saturday that the close accomplice of the prime suspect Mujahidullah Afridi in Asma Rani, who was killed in Kohat for refusing a marriage proposal, has been arrested.

The law enforcement authority informed that Shahzeb, a resident of KDA area of the city, assisted Mujahidullah in fleeing from the country after the brutal murder of Asma Rani, adding that it has also recovered pistol used in the crime.

Police said that the arrested suspect used to give information about Rani to Mujahidullah and was with him on the day of the murder.

Meanwhile, a 33-member committee was formed by a grand jirga held on Friday to seek justice for slain Asma Rani, who was killed in Kohat for refusing a marriage proposal.

The grand jirga in Lakki Marwat was chaired by District Nazim Iqbal Hussain.

Speaking at a press conference after the meeting, Iqbal condemned Asma’s killing and demanded the main culprit be arrested. He vowed that the Marwats will not end their protest till the culprit is brought to justice.

“A 33-member committee will participate in the supreme court’s hearing which will be held on February 13, and will also stage a protest march from the Islamabad National Press Club to the parliament house,” he told the media.

He also told that the father of the deceased has given full authority to the jirga.

On January 31, the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) had contacted Interpol in Saudi Arabia and sent a letter requesting the arrest of Asma Rani’s murderer, Mujahidullah Afridi, who had allegedly shot dead the medical student over a marriage refusal in Kohat, and is the nephew of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf’s (PTI) District President Aftab Alam. He fled to Saudi Arabia after killing Asma.

It is pertinent to mention here that Mujahidullah and his brother Sadiqullah had opened fire on the girl when she was getting off a rickshaw in front of her house. The suspects immediately escaped from the scene after killing the girl who was a third-year student at a medical college in Abbottabad. Asma received three bullets and was rushed to the hospital where she succumbed to her injuries. The body of the deceased was sent to her native town Laki Marwat.

In a statement at the hospital, Asma identified Mujahidullah Afridi as the man who shot at her.