ISLAMABAD: A court in Islamabad granted bail to six employees of counselling center Therapy Works, including the center's owner Tahir Zahoor in connection with last month’s grisly murder of 27-year-old Noor Mukadam, a court order said.
Mukadam, the daughter of a former Pakistani diplomat, was found beheaded at a residence in Islamabad’s upscale F-7/4 sector on July 20 in a case that has sparked public outrage and grabbed media attention unlike any other recent crime against women.
The key suspect, Zahir Jaffer, who is on judicial remand in Adiala Jail in Islamabad’s twin city of Rawalpindi, was arrested from the crime scene, his home, on the day of the murder. He had reportedly been practicing as a psychotherapist after enrolling in a certification course with Therapy Works. Police say a team from the counselling centre was already at the crime scene when they arrived on July 20, having been summoned by Jaffer's parents, who are also under arrest.
Zahoor and his five employees were arrested on August 15 and remanded in judicial custody until August 30.
“Post arrest bail petitions are accepted and petitioners namely Tahire Zahoor [CEO of Therapy Works] and others are admitted to post arrest bail subject to furnishing their security bonds to the tune of Rs 500,000 each,” the court order read.
“At this stage it cannot be presumed that the therapy works team went to spot with connivance of main accuse or this parents to destroy / wipe-off the evidence,” the court said
Court also said that role of the petitioners was not at par with the role of co-accused whose bail has been dismissed so “there would be no useful purpose for the prosecution to keep the petitioners in jail for unlimited period.”
Jaffer's parents and a cook, gardener and a security guard at the Jaffer home are also under arrest and being investigated on various charges, including abetment and concealment of evidence.
“Tahir Zahoor has only been accused of hiding the evidence but he wasn’t present at the site of the murder, his lawyer Zafarullah told the court,” Samaa reported. “He said that his client is 73 years old and suffers from diabetes, along with heart and kidney diseases.”