LAHORE/ISLAMABAD: Islamabad police investigators have revealed the father of Zahir Zakir Jaffer — the prime suspect in July's gruesome beheading of Noor Mukadam — has tried to destroy the evidence of murder and dispose of the victim's body.
Mukadam, the 27-year-old daughter of a former Pakistani diplomat, was found beheaded at a residence in Islamabad’s upscale F-7/4 neighborhood on July 20 in a case that has sparked public outrage and grabbed media attention unlike any other recent crime against women.
Jaffer was arrested from the crime scene on the day of the murder. He was initially on police remand but was moved to Adiala Jail in the city of Rawalpindi on judicial remand in early August. His parents, Zakir Jaffer and Ismat Adamjee, and three members of household staff are also under arrest for a range of charges in relation to the case.
According a detailed charge sheet filed against him by police investigators, Jaffer was in touch with his parents before and after the crime and had they informed the police in time, it could have been avoided. The charge sheet says the Jaffers had, instead, "abetted in the murder" and tried to cover it up.
“Don’t worry, I’ll take care of it,” the charge sheet quotes Jaffer's father as telling him after Mukadam's beheading. “Our people are coming, they will take you out from there and dispose of the body."
A five-member team of counselling center Therapy Works, where Jaffer enrolled in a certification course to practice as a psychotherapist, reached the crime scene on Jaffer father's request to “conceal the crime and destroy the evidence.”
The arrival of Therapy Works workers confused Zahir and he stabbed one them. The man, later identified as Amjad Mahmood, was admitted in Pakistan Institute of Medical Sciences, where he told the doctors that he was injured in a road accident.
“This all was an attempt to hide the evidence in the murder,” the police charge sheet said.
Mukadam came to Zahir’s home on July 18, according to the document. She tried to leave the place twice, the charge sheet said, but Jaffer's household staff were ordered not to let anyone out of the residence. Jaffer’s security guard and gardener did not let her open the main gate.
“The suspect had directed his household staff including the security guard not to let anybody inside or go outside the home." After she tried to flee, he dragged her back inside the house. He also raped her, the police charge sheet said.
"A DNA report confirmed the accused had raped the victim … the forensic report confirmed the victim was not drugged or poisoned."
Investigators said they are still waiting to receive forensic reports based on data from Jaffer's phone and laptop from the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA).
Jaffer's trial was scheduled for Sept. 8, but the court adjourned it until Sept. 23.
