Legal expert Abid Zaman has clarified that the police did not seek physical remand in the first information report related to the Mustafa murder case.

“The suspect was arrested in an exchange of fire with police. The AVCC only deals in abduction and ransom cases. The AVCC raided the prime suspect’s house where he was arrested after a gun battle. Police brought him in remand. There were three FIRs of police related to gun battles and arms. The remand sought in the anti-terrorism court [ATC] was related to these three FIRs,” Zaman said while appearing on the Aaj News programme Dus on Saturday.

Based on the FIRs’ remand, he said that the judge sent him to jail custody. “This is wrong. A remand was not sought in the FIR related to the abduction as it only invoked Section 365 [kidnapping or abducting with intent secretly and wrongfully to confine person] of the Pakistan Penal Code. It did not invoke 365-A (kidnapping or abducting for extorting property, valuable security, etc.).”

The legal explained that the case falls under Section 7 of the Anti-Terrorism Act (punishment for acts of terrorism) when Section 365-A charge is added to the FIR. Then, it comes under the jurisdiction of ATC, he added.

When the host, Imran Sultan, tried to simply it that the challan filed by the AVCC was not related to the ransom call, but to the police gun battle, the lawyer replied in affirmative. He added that a remand under Section 365-A was sought in the city court, Karachi.

“Remand on FIR 12 was not sought in front of the administrative judge on January 10,” Zaman said and added that AVCC sought remand under FIR 123. On this, he said that the suspect alleged that he was assaulted. For this reason, the suspect was given jail custody.

“There is a misperception everywhere that the judge did not allow the remand. I want to mention the victim’s mother’s statement who claimed that the investigation officer did not mention abduction and he did not seek remand related to abduction.”

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Zaman went on to add that the police added Section 7ATA in the FIR on January 11 and tried to get NOC from the administrative judge to seek the suspect’s custody from the jail because of the domain. “On this, the ATC judge passed an order that a joint investigation team should be formed,” he said and added that a remand can be sought under this.

Amir, a Karachi resident, went missing on January 6, according to the police. His charred body was found in a car in Balochistan, they told reporters in a press conference on Friday.

Police added that they got to know about the death after a suspect made a shocking confession to them during the investigation.

As the story unfolds, investigators said on Saturday that the conflict leading to the missing person’s death arose from a dispute involving a girl.