An anti-terrorism court (ATC) in Gujranwala on Friday handed 33 more suspects over to police on 17-day physical remand in the Sialkot lynching case.
Earlier on December 3, a mob comprising hundreds of people had tortured Priyantha Kumara, a 49-year-old Sri Lankan national, to death and burnt his body.
A first information report (FIR) was registered against hundreds of unidentified men.
Scores have since been arrested and are facing investigation.
On Friday, the court approved 17-day physical remand of the suspects after the police produced the suspects in court amid tight security and requested their physical remand for investigation.
The court directed the police to produce them on the completion of their remand on January 3.
According to Express Tribune, Malik Adnan, who had tried to save the life of Kumara, will be added to the list of witnesses by the prosecution in the case.
The news outlet quoted its sources as saying that Adnan will be a key prosecution witness and the challan, including videos and important documents, in the case will be submitted in the first week of January, 2022.
It is pertinent to mention that the suspects will be tried inside prison due to security reasons.
Last week, the Punjab government and prosecution team had decided to conduct the jail trail of the high-profile case due to security concerns.
The decision was reached during a meeting of government functionaries and the prosecution team to maintain law and order situation and avoid any untoward incident, they had said.
The jail management was also instructed to make all the arrangements for the jail trail.
Incident:
The incident had seen widespread outrage and condemnation across Pakistan with politicians, scholars and civil society members calling for swift punishment to be meted out to the perpetrators.
Reacting to the incident, Prime Minister Imran Khan, in a tweet, had said: “I am overseeing the investigations & let there be no mistake all those responsible will be punished with full severity of the law. Arrests are in progress.”
Kumara’s remains were repatriated to Sri Lanka on December 6 and a condolence reference was held for him a day later at the Prime Minister’s House.
With input from INP
