- Police say no CCTV footage, no witness to the murder
ISLAMABAD: The Islamabad police lack technical grounds to establish that Attaullah, the arrested suspect in Careem driver murder case, is a murderer, it has been learnt.
The arrested suspect has neither confessed to the killing so far in a five-day remand nor have the police got a forensic report of the recovered 30-bore-pistol to find out whether the fingerprints matched with the arrested suspect or not.
The police said that there is no CCTV footage of the murder and no witness to this murder. All they have is the Careem Company’s data about the ride he booked.
The case took a new turn when the arrested suspect Attaullah confessed in remand that Anayatullah, an official of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) police, had murdered 26-year-old Junaid Mustafa by shooting him in his chest and left arm multiple times with a 30-bore pistol, injuring his right hand and arm as well.
Talking to Pakistan Today, Attaullah on Thursday said that the police officials were not arresting the two main accused, Zubair, a property dealer in Mardan, and Anayatullah.
“I booked Careem at 2:35 am on February 22 from F-11-Markaz for a ride to G-13. I travelled alone but was in constant contact with Zubair and Anayatullah. At G-13, when my ride ended, they pulled out a gun and tried to snatch the car. After facing resistance, they killed the driver and fled with the car,” he said, adding that he has been punished only because he booked the car.
Curiously, there is a lot of difference between the statements of police officials and the detained suspect. Homicide police inspector, Riaz Gondal, investigating this case under SP CIA Zubair Sheikh, said that they had arrested him from Golra Mor and the snatched car, pistol, and his national identity card was recovered from his father’s business place, which proved his crime.
However, Attaullah claimed that the police’s claim was wrong. “They did not arrest me from Golra Mor on February 24, and the snatched car was also not recovered from my father’s kiosk established in sector G-16/4,” he said, claiming that the car was recovered from Mardan.
Responding to a question, Riaz Gondal said that Attaullah had not produced the snatched registration book of Suzuki Wagon R and two mobile phones.
“He is a very clever criminal. He was sentenced and behind the bar for nine months in a case in City Police Station, Kohat. He was also wanted in a Honda car-snatch case of street 20, F-10/2,” he said, adding that police is trying to nab the second suspect, Zubair, and many raids in this regards have been conducted.
Moreover, there is no clue of Anayatullah’s involvement and he is clean.
When asked about why the police officials have not obtained the CDR and mobile phone record of Attaullah, Zubair and Anayatullah to cross-check that they were in contact or not, or trace their location on the same time of murder through geo-fencing, he said that they had written to CIA that they seek CDR of all accused, which are likely to be provided in a couple of days.
Earlier, Attaullah snatched a Honda car from sector F-10 and demanded Rs500,000. Upon delivery of the payment, he along with Zubair gave the car back to its owner.
SP CIA Zubair Sheikh, speaking to Pakistan Today said that the investigations were underway and the second suspect would also be nabbed soon.
BY BILAL SABRI