VIDEO: Armughan’s father defends shootout with police, accuses Mustafa of selling drugs to son

Father of the primary accused in the abduction and murder case of Karachi’s 23-year-old Mustafa Amir has defended his son Armughan, saying that he was right to open fire at police to protect his property.

Speaking to a private media outlet, Kamran Qureshi went on to accuse the victim of supplying drugs to his son, and denied all charges by law enforcement regarding Armughan’s involvement in the murder case.

On allegations of opening fire at the police during a raid, Qureshi said that his son ran a software house and could not afford losing sensitive data on his laptops to people he could not trust. “Are we nuts?” the murder accused’s father added while casting doubts on the sincerity of the police in protecting people.

To a question by the reporter, the murder accused’s father said that Armughan and Mustafa used to “party together” and the latter recurrently sold him “five grams of dope for Rs250,000”.

He, however, clarified that the two were not childhood friends.

To the details surrounding the case and the confession by his son’s alleged accomplice Shavez Bukhari aka Shiraz, Qureshi said that anyone could be forced to say anything under duress.

He also levelled serious accusations on the victim’s father, claiming that he had “found out” the “details” after getting to know about the incident.

Separately, three police officers were suspended and demoted for mishandling the kidnapping and murder case of the 23-year-old.

Amir was abducted from DHA on Jan 6, and his family received a ransom call two weeks later. During the investigation, police arrested Armughan after a shootout, who claimed that the youth was murdered by his friends.

Armughan was later sent on remand by an anti-terrorism court, while police presented another suspect, Shiraz, in court, seeking his custody for interrogation.

On Jan 12, police found an unidentified body in a torched car in Hub, which Balochistan police later handed over to the Edhi Foundation for burial. The unclaimed body was buried at the Edhi graveyard in Karachi on Jan 16.

Speaking to a private media outlet, Deputy Inspector General of Police (South) Syed Asad Raza said that “three officers were suspended after they failed to achieve any breakthrough in the case”.

In a video statement released on social media, the victim’s mother said SSP Investigation Ali Hassan was “guilty of victim blaming and failing to take action for 20 days”.

In response, the DIG acknowledged the video and said that an inquiry would be conducted into the allegations.

According to two orders issued by DIG South, SHO Abdul Rasheed Pathan and SIO Zulfiqar Ahmed of Darakhshan police station were reverted to the substantive rank of assistant sub-inspectors.

Whereas, investigation officer ASI Iftikhar Ahmed from the same station was reverted to head constable, pending inquiry/departmental proceedings into their conduct in connection with the Mustafa Amir kidnapping case.