Islamabad: In a major development in the high-profile Sarah Inam murder case, police on Wednesday arrested the mother of Shahnawaz Amir, Sameena Shah, after a district and sessions court in Islamabad dismissed her pre-arrest bail.
On August 26, three days after the murder of Sarah Inam, the court had granted Sameena a three-day pre-arrest bail against a surety bond of Rs50,000.
Since then, Sameena had been on bail.
Today, Sameena and her counsel appeared before Additional Sessions Judge Sohail Sheikh, who discussed the issue of her bail.
The judge dismissed her bail after the investigating officer submitted the case record to him. The complainant’s lawyer, Rao Abdur Rehman, also presented his arguments against further extension in the bail.
The lawyer contended that Shahnawaz’s mother, Sameena, had been nominated in the case as a suspect due to her statements.
The court accepted his request, following which Shahzad Town police arrested her outside the court.
The Case
Sarah Inam was allegedly killed by her husband Shahnawaz Amir, the son of famous journalist Ayaz Amir, at home after a row over a “family issue” on September 23.
Police recovered her body from a farmhouse in the Chak Shahzad area of Islamabad and arrested Shah Nawaz for being a suspect in the case. He later confessed to killing her. The couple had been married for just three months.
On the complaint of Station House Officer (SHO) Nawazish Ali Khan, police filed a first information report (FIR) under Section 302 (punishment for murder) of the Pakistan Penal Code (PPC).
The FIR states that on Friday, September 23, the suspect’s mother, Sameena, called the police to report that her son, Shahnawaz, had killed his wife with a dumbbell.
It further says that Sameena informed the police that her son was home and had covered his wife’s body. The cops then searched the residence.
According to the police complaint, Shahnawaz had locked himself in his room, and when the staff broke down the door, they found blood stains on his hands and clothing.
According to the FIR, Shahnawaz confessed to striking his wife repeatedly with a dumbbell during an argument and then concealing the Canadian national’s body in the bathtub once the police had Shahnawaz.
Shahnawaz said in the FIR that the “murder weapon” was stashed beneath his bed. Police reportedly discovered blood and hair on the dumbbell after inspecting it. Later, they forwarded it to forensics.
