MARDAN - A district and session court in Mardan has sent the main accused in the Mashal murder case, PTI councillor Arif, on a three-day remand.

The Mardan police had arrested Muhammad Arif Khan from Chamtar village, located at Ring Road.

However, two other Mashal murder suspects, Sabirullah Mayar and Asad Katlang, are still at large.

The anti-terrorism court in Abbottabad, on February 7, awarded death sentence to one and 25-year-prison to five other in the Mashal murder case.

With this arrest, the number of the accused apprehended in the Mashal Khan murder case reached 60.

However, two other key suspects, identified as Sabirullah Mayar and Asad Katlang, activists of Pakhtun Students Federation (PkSF), are still at large.

It may be noted that on April 13, a mob of students, employees of Abdul Wali Khan University Mardan and some outsiders lynched Mashal Khan, a student of journalism, after accusing him of committing blasphemy.

It may be noted that later on, an anti-terrorism court (ATC) in Haripur jail had announced the decision of Mashal lynching case on February 7.

The court awarded death sentence to one accused, identified as Imran, and two times life imprisonment to three accused, identified as Fazl and Mujeebullah and Ashfaq Khan.

The ATC judge also awarded three times life imprisonment to two other accused, Mudassir Bashir and Bilal 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 acquitted 26 of the accused in the case with the 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.

However, the Peshawar High Court (PHC) on February 27 suspended the four-year sentence of all 25 accused and granted bail to them.