Were Therapy Works staff called to shift Zahir Jaffer to their clinic to make it look like he was in their care and not at the scene of the crime where he murdered Noor Mukaddam?

A Dawn story on Thursday claims this is what investigators have found and led them to arrest both the owner and the staff members for their involvement in the crime.

Noor was brutally murdered in Islamabad on July 20. Zahir was arrested at his home where the crime took place. Subsequently his parents, staff members and employees of Therapy Works were also arrested.

According to the Dawn report, investigators say that during a phone call with his father, Zakir confessed to killing Noor and his father, Zahir Jaffer, called Therapy Works and reportedly asked them to go to their home and shift his son to the clinic to make it look like he was in their care, and not at home.

“There was no other family members of Jaffer in the house at the time of the murder and his father wanted to create the impression that his son was also absent,” the investigators are quoted in Dawn story as saying.

The newspaper also quoted Senior Superintendent of Police Dr Mustafa Tanweer as saying "the staff of Therapyworks reached the house on the request of Zakir Jaffer in order to remove his son from the crime scene and hide evidence."

Zahir's parents Zakir and Asmat issued a statement saying they stand with Noor family. They have also said they were unaware of the murder as they were both in Karachi at the time and they did not hide information from the authorities.

In a related development, Zahid Gishkori of The News, reported on Wednesday that Zahir was seeking legal assistance from the US in a bid to get justice. He also reportedly asked for US help in securing better barracks in prison.

Gishkori quoted a jail official as saying that Zahir spoke to a US embassy official on the phone for 20 minutes on Monday after the Home Department approved his request.

The News also quotes Noor's father Shaukat Mukadam as saying “I have the firm conviction that the murderer of my daughter ... will be awarded the death sentence.”