Mufti Qavi denies relation with suspect in Qandeel Baloch murder case

MULTAN: Mufti Abdul Qavi on Sunday denied any relation with a suspect in the murder case of social media starlet Qandeel Baloch, saying that he would present answers to the 14-point questionnaire pertaining to the murder tomorrow.

Speaking at a news conference here, Mufti Abdul Qavi said he does not even know the family of suspect Abdul Basit, not to talk of any relation with him.

The cleric, who had to lose his membership of the Ruet-i-Hilal Committee following the surfacing of a video in which he was seen with Baloch on social media, said he has prepared answers to the 14-point questionnaire handed to him pertaining to the investigations of Baloch's murder and will submit it to police on Monday (tomorrow).

Earlier today reports suggested Abdul Basit, who had driven Qandeel Baloch’s brother Waseem and cousin Haq Nawaz to Multan in a taxi, to be the son of Mufti Qavi’s uncle.

On July 15, Basit had allegedly driven the two to Multan from Baloch's ancestral village Shah Saddar Din in Dera Ghazi Khan, around 130 kilometers away. He is reportedly a resident of the same village as that of Baloch.

Waseem and Haq Nawaz had reportedly returned to the village shortly after the murder.

Basit had handed himself over to police on 27th July in Multan.

Mufti Qavi, at the news conference today, said he does not know any Basit.

The cleric said that he had not been contacted by any of Qandeel’s heirs after her murder and that he does not know details regarding her family.

Earlier, the mother of slain model had claimed that Mufti Qavi had provoked her son Waseem into murdering her daughter.

Qandeel’s brother Waseem had admitted to strangling her to death for the 'honour of the family'. However, sources in Punjab Forensic Science Agency on Saturday revealed that the model had been strangled to death by her cousin Haq Nawaz instead of by her brother.

Meanwhile, a local court in Multan sent Waseem to jail after completion of a 14-day physical remand. Haq Nawaz remains with the police on a five-day physical remand.