DNA tests conducted on clothes, weapon of offence and other material collected from the crime scene in last month’s gruesome murder of Noor Mukadam confirmed that Zahir Zakir Jaffer had killed her.
“The DNA tests on samples collected from the clothes of both Zahir and Noor, and the weapon of offence, have confirmed the fingerprints of the principal accused in this case," according to inspector Abdul Sattar, who is investigating the case.
Police had last month submitted all evidence gathered from the crime scene, including CCTV footage from the Jaffer house, to the Punjab Forensic Science Agency in Lahore for analysis. Noor’s heart, lung, stomach, liver, spleen, nail scraping and vaginal swabs were also sent to the Agency for chemical examination.
A forensic report by the Agency confirmed that the CCTV footage was original and had not been edited, and the people in it were Jaffer and Mukadam, Sattar said.
“The accused has verbally accepted during police investigation that he sexually assaulted the victim before beheading her,” the inspector said. “But we will get a final scientific report on this from the forensic agency in a couple of days.”
He further said that the police haven’t received a complete report of the victim’s post-mortem yet, adding that the decision regarding the submission of a complete or interim charge sheet in the court next week was still pending.
Mukadam was found beheaded at a residence in Islamabad’s upscale F-7/4 sector on July 20 in a case that has sparked public outrage and grabbed media attention unlike any other recent crime against women. The victim was the daughter of Shaukat Mukadam, Pakistan’s former ambassador to South Korea and Kazakhstan.
Jaffer was arrested from the crime scene, his home, on the day of the murder and remained in police custody on physical remand until last week, when he was sent on 14-day judicial remand to Adiala Jail in Islamabad’s twin city of Rawalpindi. He is to be presented before a judicial magistrate on August 16.
Police are also scheduled to submit a detailed charge-sheet (challan) of the case in a district court in Islamabad on August 16, though the investigation officer said his department was yet to get all the required scientific reports to complete the challan.
In the footage obtained from the suspect’s house, Mukadam could be seen jumping from a balcony before Jaffer chased her and dragged her back into the house, the official, who had examined the video, said.