A session court in Islamabad on Monday granted bail to six officials of Therapyworks, including its owner and chief executive officer Tahir Zahoor, in connection with the Noor Mukadam murder case.
The short order was announced by Additional Sessions Judge Muhammad Ata Rabbani who reserved the decision earlier today. He directed all six officials — Zahoor, Amjad, Dilip Kumar, Abdul Haq, Wamiq and Samar Abbas — to submit bail bonds of Rs5 million each, reports Dawn.
A written copy of the order is expected to be issued tomorrow.
Therapyworks, a counselling and psychotherapy service, came under public scrutiny as the murder investigation unfolded and it was revealed that the primary suspect, Zahir Zakir Jaffer, was associated with it.
Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP) Investigation Attaur Rehman had told Dawn that staff of Therapyworks had reached Zahir’s house and after breaking into it, they found Noor’s beheaded body on the first storey.
They overpowered the accused and tied him up before the police arrived, Rehman had said.
During the hearing on the bail petitions today, Zahoor’s lawyer, Barrister Qasim Nawaz, argued that the Therapyworks owner was arrested despite his name not being mentioned in the first information report (FIR) of the case.
He said therapy-related work was his client’s profession and that he treated people.
On the other hand, Shah Khawar, the counsel for Noor’s family, argued that Therapyworks employees had broken the doors to enter the house of the primary suspect Zahir.
“Zahir Jaffer killed Noor and then informed his parents,” the counsel said. “They called the Therapyworks centre to go [to their home] and check on their son.”
However, Barrister Nawaz contended that the “allegations” levelled against his client were false, adding that the sections included in the FIR against Therapyworks employees were “bailable offences”.
Shahzad Qureshi, the counsel for the other five Therapyworks officials, said that his clients had always appeared before the police when called.
“[Therapyworks owner] Tahir Zahoor is a heart patient, his kidneys are affected and he has high blood pressure issues,” Barrister Nawaz further argued as he submitted his client’s medical history to the court.
He said the personnel sent by Therapyworks had “arrested” Zahir and did so despite being injured by the primary suspect.
Amjad’s medical history was also submitted to the court.
Qureshi informed the court that Amjad had been injured when Zahir attacked him with a knife. “The five people went to the scene [of the murder]. How did Amjad get injured if they were hiding the evidence?”
“Zahir attacked Amjad and critically injured him. [They themselves] called the police. They were turned into suspects 18 days after the incident,” he further stated.
For his part, the counsel for Noor’s family opposed the bail plea, arguing that the investigation was ongoing, call records were being collected and CCTV footage was “important evidence”.
As people’s roles are discovered, they are being nominated as suspects, he added.
The plaintiff’s counsel argued that Zahir’s father had called Zahoor instead of the police and told him to “go and check.”
The police station is 10 minutes away from where the murder took place, he informed the court, adding that Amjad had surgery and was discharged from hospital but the matter was still “not handed over to the police”.
Amjad had “not wrongly” been turned into a suspect, he argued.
