Mardan police arrest key suspect in Mashal Khan lynching

Pakistan Forward

MARDAN -- One of the primary suspects in the case of Mashal Khan's lynching was arrested by Mardan police after being on the run for almost 10 months, Dawn reported.

Mashal, a 23-year-old student at Abdul Wali Khan University in Mardan, was killed by a mob on campus last April 13, over false rumours that he had committed blasphemy. The mob beat and shot him before mutilating his body.

A police special operations team Thursday (March 8) arrested Arif Khan in the Ring Road Chamkar area in connection with the case, said District Police Officer Mian Saeed.

Khan, a tehsil councillor for the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party, was seen in a video of the lynching telling a crowd to keep the name of Mashal's shooter a secret and that Mashal deserved death.

He was believed to have fled to Turkey and was arrested only upon his recent return home. Police had been searching for him since at least last May.

An Anti-Terrorism Court in Haripur Central Prison in February sentenced Imran Ali, Mashal's shooter, to death and five other men to life imprisonment in the case.

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