PESHAWAR: Sabir Mayar, one of the two remaining absconders in the Mashal Khan lynching case, surrendered to the Mardan police on Monday.
According to Mardan District Police Officer Dr Mian Saeed, the search for the third absconder is under way.
In April last year, Mashal Khan, a student of Abdul Wali Khan University in Mardan, was lynched by an angry mob for allegedly “publishing blasphemous content online”.
Mayar, who was the president of Pakhtun Students Federation, is the supposed mastermind behind Mashal’s murder as he was threatened by the latter’s stance against his activities at Abdul Wali Khan University, Mardan.
Following Mashal’s murder, Sabir Mayar and two others had run away.
Earlier, Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) tehsil councillor Arif was arrested from Mardan by a police team. In a video which surfaced after the lynching of Mashal, Arif was seen warning a crowd to keep the name of the person who shot Mashal a secret.
According to reports, he fled to Turkey after the lynching and was arrested once he came back to his home recently, 10 months after the lynching.
Last month, an Abbottabad ATC handed death penalty to the man, Imran Ali, who shot Mashal Khan, on two accounts. Five other accused were handed multiple terms of the life imprisonment, and 25 were given jail sentences. The other 26 accused were acquitted due to lack of evidence.
