MARDAN: The police has arrested another main accused in the Mashal murder case here on Thursday.
According to the sources, the officials said that the accused identified as Mohammad Arif former tehsil councilor of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) of Muslimabad union council has been arrested from Ring road at Chamtar village a place in the jurisdiction of Saddar Police Station in Mardan.
With the latest arrest of Mohammad Arif, the number of the accused apprehended in the Mashal Khan murder
case has reached to 60.
However, two suspects including Pakhtun Students Federation (PkSF) activists Sabirullah Mayar and Asad Katlang are still at large.
It may be noted that on April 13, 2017, a mob of students, employees of Abdul Wali Khan University Mardan and some outsiders lynched Mashal Khan, a student of Journalism and Mass Communication Department, after accusing him of committing blasphemy.
It may be also noted that later on an anti-terrorism court (ATC) in Haripur jail had announced the decision of Mashal lynching case on 7th February.
The court has awarded death sentence to one accused identified as Imran.
The court announced two times life imprisonment (50 years) to three accused including Fazle Raziq, son of Fazle Khaliq, Mujeebullah, son of Said Rehman, and Ashfaq Khan, son of Khan Bahadar.
The ATC judge also awarded three times life imprisonment (75 years) to two accused including Mudassir Bashir, son of Muhammad Bashir, and Bilal Bakhsh, son of Nabi Bakhsh.
The court awarded four years sentence to 25 accused including Wajid Malang, Zeeshan, Hanif, Nasrullah alias Nasir Afridi, Imad Ahmad, Khial Said, Hassan Akhtar, Anas, Malik Tauqeer, Aamir, Sodais, Hamza, Arif, Shahab Ali Shah, Ashraf Ali, Imran, Waleed, Ali Khan, Shoaib, Nawab Ali, Syed Abbas, Sahib Zada, Muhammad Sohaib, Farhan Laiq, Riaz Shangla and Wajahatullah.
The court has acquitted 26 of the accused in the case with observation that the prosecution has not been able to prove their involvement in any act of violence or aggression on the body of Mashal Khan.
The acquitted accused were Ghayoor Alam, Samiullah, Shahzad,
Sajjad Ali, Irfanullah, Anas, Shabbir Ahmad, Sajjad Katlang, Sohrab, Usman, Asif, Suleman, Jalal, Ajmal Mayar, Ali Hussain, Basharat, Ashfaqur Rehman, Azaz, Abbas Sheno, Hamad, Syed Wajid Ali, Saeed Shankar, Afsar Khan, Hazrat Bilal, Muhammad Shafi and Shahzad.
However the Peshawar High Court (PHC) on 27th February suspend the four year sentence of 25 accused and granted bail including Wajid Malang, Zeeshan, Hanif, Nasrullah alias Nasir Afridi, Imad Ahmad, Khial Said, Hassan Akhtar, Anas, Malik Tauqeer, Aamir, Sodais, Hamza, Arif, Shahab Ali Shah, Ashraf Ali, Imran, Waleed, Ali Khan, Shoaib, Nawab Ali, Syed Abbas, Sahib Zada, Muhammad Sohaib, Farhan Laiq, Riaz Shangla and
Wajahatullah.
