• Defense lawyer says murder ‘only an allegation’
• FIR reveals gory details of the killing that shocked Pakistan

The Islamabad police arrested analyst Ayaz Amir Saturday night in connection with the murder of his daughter-in-law Sarah Inam, who was allegedly killed by her husband, Ayaz’s son, Shahnawaz Amir on Friday.

The police Saturday produced Shahnawaz Amir before the District and Sessions Court in Islamabad, a day after he was arrested for murdering Sarah Inam.

The court remanded him into police custody for two days.

The investigation officer of the case also sought the arrest of Ayaz Amir, Shahnawaz’s mother Samina Shah, and Ayaz Amir’s brother and his wife.

Judge Mubashar Hassan Chishti issued the arrest warrants for Ayaz Amir and Saminah Shah. The analyst was arrested at midnight.

However, the court turned down police request for a longer remand of the accused. The IO had said that he wanted to get Shahnawaz’s fingerprints. The judge said that fingerprints could be obtained from NADRA record.

During the hearing, the judge asked the accused whether he knew that he faced murder charges under Section 302 of the Code of Criminal Procedure (Cr. PC).

The police requested the court to grant them a 10-day physical remand of the accused so that he could be interrogated in connection with the murder of Sara Inam, 37 — reportedly a Canadian national.

Police also said that the accused coaxed his wife into returning to Pakistan and then murdered her.

The defense lawyer, however, said that the murder was ‘only to the extent of an allegation’.

The court briefly reserved the decision on the remand application and Shahnawaz was moved to the court lock up.

The court then remanded him to police custody for two days.

‘He hid the body and dumbbell’

Earlier, the Islamabad police registered an FIR against Shahnawaz on the complaint of Shahzad Town SHO Mohammad Aitzaz.

The FIR was based on a statement by Shahnawaz’s mother, Samina Shah.

SHO Mohammad Aitzaz said that he received the information about the murder over a phone call and arrived at farmhouse No. 46 in Chak Shahzad at around 10:40am.

Here the SHO met a woman who identified herself as Samina Shah d/o Amir Ali Shah – an ex-wife of Ayaz Amir.

The farmhouse is reportedly owned by her.

Samina Shah told the police that her son and daughter-in-law had a fight and her son killed his wife Sarah Inam by hitting her on the head with a dumbbell, used in gyms.

“My son is at home right now and he has concealed the body in there,” she was quoted as saying in the FIR.

When the police entered the house, Shahnawaz locked himself up in a room. The police forced their entry into the room and overpowered the man, “whose shirt and hands were stained with blood,” the FIR added.

Shahnawaz told the police that he killed his wife during a fight by hitting her with a dumbbell and hid her body in the bathtub of his washroom.

He led the police officers to the bathroom, where a lady constable, accompanying the police team, examined the body. Sarah Inam’s body was found with head injuries, according to the FIR.

The accused also told the police that he hid the dumbbell used for the murder under a sofa in his bedroom.

He retrieved the dumbbell himself and handed it to the police. The dumbbell was stained with blood and some hair strands were found on it, the FIR said.

The police took into custody the dumbbell and Shahnawaz’s blood-stained shirt for a forensic examination.

The FIR has been registered under Section 302 of the Code of Criminal Procedure (Cr Pc).

What else we know so far

Shahnawaz Amir and Sarah, a Canadian national, tied the knot very recently. She worked in Dubai and had returned to Pakistan only days before being murdered.

The couple were residing at Chak Shahzad farmhouse No. 46, reportedly owned by Amir’s ex-wife and Shahnawaz’s mother.

Read: Analyst Ayaz Amir’s son arrested for wife’s murder

Shahnawaz allegedly beat up Sara Thursday night and killed her with a heavy dumbbell. The murder was reported Friday morning with some reports suggesting that it happened early morning.

Police moved the body to the Polyclinic Hospital for a postmortem examination, with the exact cause of death yet to be determined.

Ayaz Amir arrived at the scene by noon and said that it was a ‘heart-wrenching incident.’

Such an incident should not happen with anyone,“ Ayaz Amir told reporters outside the house. “No one should have to bear such trauma.”

Soon after the crime surfaced, #AyazAmir and #Sarah became top trend. #JusticeforSarah was trending on Saturday.