PHC transfers Asma Rani case to Peshawar

PESHAWAR: Peshawar High Court (PHC) on Friday ordered to transfer the Asma Rani murder case from Kohat to Peshawar.

Lawyer of Rani’s family reasoned before the court that no lawyer was ready to take up the murder case in Kohat because of the unsafe environment, adding that the main accused Mujahid Afridi and his accomplice Shahzeb belonged to a powerful family in Kohat.

Rani, a third-year MBBS student at Abbottabad medical college, was in her hometown when Mujahid killed her in January 2018 for refusing a marriage proposal.

Last month, Rani’s family said that they had been pressurised by the other party to enter into an out-of-court agreement, and requested the Supreme Court to transfer the case to Peshawar, Bannu or Dera Ismail Khan.

On March 21, a local court had sent the prime suspect in the Asma Rani murder case to jail on 14-days judicial remand.

In his statement, during the hearing, Afridi maintained that he had not murdered the medical student.

Earlier, Mujahid Afridi was taken into custody on March 10, from the Benazir Bhutto International Airport, Islamabad, by a special team of the Kohat police.

A team of the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) was also present at the airport at the time of the detainment.

Afridi was extradited to Pakistan following his arrest by the Interpol in Sharjah. He is said to be the son of a nephew of the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) district leader in Kohat.

Mujahid was arrested in Sharjah by the authorities concerned on the request of KP police. The accused, who was already married and had a business in the UAE, managed to escape to Saudi Arabia on the day of the incident from the Islamabad airport using an Umrah visa.