KARACHI: The Sindh High Court (SHC) on Tuesday directed the police to produce Armughan, prime suspect in the Mustafa Amir murder case, before Anti-Terrorism Court (ATC) No II to secure his remand.

The development came after the court approved all four applications concerning Armughan’s remand on charges of illegally possessing weapons, kidnapping, murder and other offences and set aside the ATC’s previous orders.

The police had approached the Sindh High Court seeking the physical remand of the prime suspect, which was previously denied by ATC No 1.

Now the police will present the suspect in ATC II shortly.

The case relates to alleged kidnapping and murder of a BBA student, Mustafa, who had gone missing on January 6.

The case came to light after the prime suspect, Armughan, opened fire at a team of the Anti-Violent Crime Cell (AVCC) — a specialised unit of the Karachi police responsible for tackling cases related to murder and extortion — during a raid at his residence in Karachi’s DHA earlier this month.

The police arrested the prime suspect, however, Mustafa’s whereabouts couldn’t be traced until last week when the authorities revealed that charred mortal remains — presumably his — had been found in a car near the Hub checkpost days after the youngster’s disappearance.

The victim’s body was then buried by the Edhi Foundation, whereas the court has allowed its exhumation for identification and forensics and has directed the Sindh Secretary Health to constitute a medical board for the exhumation and submit a report within seven days.

Other than Armughan, the police have also arrested and recorded Shiraz Bukhari alias Shavez’s statement in the case, with investigation officials saying that he worked for Armughan and was involved in allegedly planning both the murder and the disposal of the body.

During the hearing today, the government’s lawyer apprised the court that the suspect was presented before the ATC No I on February 10 with the police seeking his physical remand in three cases.

Noting that the ATC was duly informed that Armughan had opened fire on police injuring two personnel, the counsel lamented that the request for his one-month remand was turned down.

The suspect, he added, was absconding after being named in an extortion case registered at the Boat Basin Police Station.

When asked about the reason behind the trial court’s refusal to grant his remand, the lawyer said that no reason was given by the court.

Remarking that the suspect was not remanded due to torture, the SHC inquired whether Arghuman had been subjected to torture.

At this, the suspect claimed that he was in fact tortured. However, no such signs were found on his body when the court directed him to lift his shirt for the court’s inspection.

Furthermore, the SHC summoned the case’s former Investigation Officer (IO) Ameer Ashfaq and asked him about the medical letter handed to the medico-legal officer (MLO) by him.

He further revealed that the ATC had initially given the police remand but it was later turned into jail custody at 7pm.

‘Beaten with sticks’
Meanwhile, the interrogation report obtained by Geo News has revealed that Shiraz and Armughan were childhood friends, studied together in school and reconnected around a year ago.

The report says that Armughan lived alone in the bungalow and operated a call centre with 30 to 35 employees.

The suspect, as per Shiraz, was fond of weapons and had organised a party on New Year’s Eve, which was not attended by Mustafa — who was a friend of both Armughan and him.

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On January 6 — the day Mustafa went missing — the victim summoned Shiraz at Armughan’s residence. However, the meeting apparently turned sour with Armughan started beating Mustafa with sticks and firing two bullets at the wall.

Mustafa, the report adds, started bleeding when hit on his hand and knees.

The victim, after being threatened, was then taken to Balochistan in his car and burned along with the vehicle.

However, the report states that according to Shiraz he wasn’t aware of who was behind the ransom call made to Mustafa’s mother.