The physical remand of four accused of September 20 deadly suicide blast at Marriott Hotel was on Friday extended for four days for further investigation. Sakhi Muhammad Kahut, judge, Anti-Terrorist Court II (ATC), Rawalpindi resumed the hearing of the case of Marriott Hotel suicide bombing and four accused Dr Usman, Rana Ilyas, Hamid Afzal and Tahseenullah were presented before the court.
The prosecution pleaded before the learned judge that police wants to get more information from the accused and demanded further physical remand for another seven days. They said that the investigation is still not incomplete, as prosecution wants to identify other culprits involved in the blast. The court after endorsing the plea of the prosecution extended the remand for four days and adjourned hearing till November 3rd.
The accused were brought in the court under heavy security, as heavy contingents of police and other law enforcement agencies cordoned off the area around the ATC. The prosecution also pleaded that these suspects have close links with terrorist organisations. Sufficient and significant information was collected from their mobile phones and after reviewing this information the JIT could manage to reach very close to the terrorist network involved in various suicide attacks in Islamabad and other cities.
The JIT was constituted soon after the blast to probe into the incident. It had claimed that six suspects were arrested soon after the blast as they were trying to escape from the scene. All six persons were injured and belonging to tribal areas. The JIT is headed by Director General Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) Tariq Pervez.