Mohammad Asghar
RAWALPINDI: As public pressure mounted, the man accused of killing two sisters in June last year finally surrendered to the police on Monday. However, the police claimed that they arrested the accused.
Asad Mehmood, associated with a cooperative bank as a security official, was charged with killing the two sisters, one of whom had been his colleague and whom he wanted to marry.
After allegedly killing Saima Naz and Saira Naz in a girls’ hostel on June 20, 2011, Asad remained at large.
Shahjehan Bagum, the mother of the deceased young women, had accused the police of avoiding the arrest of the accused due to intervention of influential persons.
On Saturday, she tried to approach Chief Minister Punjab Shahbaz Sharif during the inaugural ceremony of Chandi Chowk Flyover but was prevented and beaten by the police.
However, media reports helped her in catching the attention of the chief minister who ordered Inspector General of Police Mohammad Habibur Rehman to look into the case.
Later, the IGP visited the house of Ms Shahejhan during which she complained that Regional Police Officer Mohammad Zubair, City Police Officer Azhar Hameed Khokhar and DSP Civil Lines Tariq Chaudhry were deliberately avoiding the arrest of the accused.
A few hours after the IGP visited the house of the woman, the accused was taken into custody by the police from a house at Adiala Road.
The CPO termed the arrest a good job done by the police and said: “Finally, the man accused of double murder was captured by the police which was not less than a challenge for us.”
The accused was produced in the court of civil judge Adeel Qureshi who remanded him in police custody for four days. The police would recover the murder weapon during interrogation and submit the challan to the court.
A source close to the investigation said negotiations were underway between the accused and the family of the victims to settle the issue.
