LAHORE: Supreme Court on Saturday gave a 10-day ultimatum to Punjab Police, ordering to arrest the prime accused in the murder case of Sialkot-based journalist Zeeshan Butt.
During the hearing of the suo motu case of the journalist’s killing at Lahore registry on Saturday, Punjab Inspector General of Police (IGP) Arif Nawaz Khan submitted a report pertaining to the arrests made in the case. The report stated that the police had arrested three suspects, however, it was admitted that the main suspect Imran Cheema alias Mani was still at large.
When Chief Justice of Pakistan (CJP) Mian Saqib Nisar asked the IGP that how long it would take to arrest the prime suspect, he asked for 10 days. The CJP then granted him a deadline of 10 days.
On April 7, the apex court had directed the Punjab IGP to arrest the accused in the case at the earliest and launch an inquiry against him under the anti-terrorism act. During the proceedings, IGP had informed CJP that the accused was affiliated with the ruling Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz. CJP had constituted a special two-member bench to hear Zeeshan Butt’s murder case earlier this month.
Print journalist Zeeshan Butt was murdered on March 27 in the union council office of Samaryal tehsil of Sialkot. His family had accused UC chairperson Imran Cheema of the murder.
