MULTAN: Social media celebrity Qandeel Baloch was murdered at the residence of Mufti Abdul Qavi’s close friend, police reported on Monday.
Qandeel’s father told the court that his daughter was put to death on Qavi’s orders, as reported by the Express News.
During a hearing at the Multan district and sessions court, the investigation officer in charge of Qandeel’s case asked judge Ameer Muhammad Khan for some time to submit the charge-sheet. He was granted until November 20 for submitting the final record.
Qandeel’s brother Muhammad Waseem along with cousin Haq Nawaz strangled the internet celebrity in the name of ‘honour’ last year. This resulted weeks after Qavi and Qandeel posted selfies with each other on social media.
Waseem, who had confessed to his crime, was ultimately brought to court with Nawaz on Monday. Azeem, Qandeel’s father, also attended the hearing while alleging his story on the account that his daughter was killed on Qavi’s orders and that the Mufti had offered him (Azeem) some cash to drop charges against him (Mufti). “I will never forgive Mufti Abdul Qavi and want Qandeel’s murderers to be brought to justice,” he told the court.
Qavi was taken into custody last week after a court rejected his request for an extension to his pre-arrest bail. Qavi was timely declared as a suspect in the Qandeel Baloch case at Azeem’s request.
Meanwhile, Qavi was produced in the court of a local judicial magistrate where he maintained his innocence, pleading to the magistrate that he had done nothing illegal.
A request was made out to the magistrate by the investigating officer, in light of a two-day extension in the cleric’s remand, while he said that the police was awaiting results of Qavi’s polygraph test which would determine the future direction of the investigation. The request was granted.
Model and actress Qandeel Baloch – born with the name ‘Fouzia Azeem’ – was found strangled to death in her house in Karimabad area, in Multan, on the 16th of July last year. At that time, her father had made claims that she was killed by Waseem, her younger brother.
The police arrested Waseem in Dera Ghazi Khan later that night and confessed to taking his sister’s life in the name of their family’s ‘honour’. At a police-organized press conference that followed in the scheme of events later, Waseem confessed to have drugged and then strangled her.
Two more were accused in the case: taxi driver Basit and Aslam Shaheen, another brother of the deceased – who are currently on bail. Arif, another accused, was declared a proclaimed offender.
Qandeel’s selfies with Qavi last year were the hottest talk of the town, causing widespread furore in every nook and corner. The cleric’s membership of the Ruet-e-Hilal Committee and the National Ulema Mushaikh Council was subsequently suspended.