Islamabad:
A man accused of having shot down a 17 -year -old Tiktok star at his home in the federal capital after having repeatedly rejected his advances was officially charged on Saturday.
The murder of Sana Yousaf in June attracted condemnation to the national level and a revived debate on the security of women, after certain online comments – in parallel with condolences – blamed him for his own death.
The 22 -year -old accused, Umar Hayat, pleaded not guilty in the Islamabad district and the session court.
“All the allegations against me are baseless and false,” the accused told judge Muhammad Afzal Majoka.
During the hearing, the judge asked if Hayat had killed Sana. “I did not commit such a crime,” replied the accused.
The judge then asked him if he had been falsely accused in the case.
“Is this a whole lie?” The judge pointed out. He also pointed out that Hayat was also accused of having snatched Yousaf’s mobile phone.
To this, the accused argued that all the allegations raised against him were “based on lies”.
The court then postponed the hearing until September 25.
Islamabad police arrested Hayat on June 3, one day after the Yousaf was killed at her house in Islamabad.
Preceding his arrest, a first information report (FIR) of the murder was registered at the Islamabad Sumbal Police post against an unidentified man on the complaint of Sana’s mother, Farzana Yousaf, invoking section 302 (intentional murder) of the Pakistani Penal Code (PPC).
In the FIR, Yousaf’s mother said that a man with a pistol in hand had entered their house suddenly around 5 pm and “pulled directly on my daughter with the intention of killing”.
Later, Inspector General of Islamabad (IG) Syed Ali Nasir Rizvi said at a press conference that the police arrested a suspect, who was a 22 -year -old from Faisalabad.
He said that Hayat had tried to contact Yousaf several times and was “rejected by her again and again”, adding that the accused had taken Yousaf’s mobile phone in order to erase the evidence but that he had been recovered with the weapon of the offense.
On July 25, police officially submitted the Challan against Hayat to the tribunal and sessions court branches. It also included the confessional declaration of Hayat registered under article 164 of the Code of Criminal Procedure.
In his statement, Hayat – son of a retired government official and a Tiktker himself – said that he had developed a unilateral craze with Sana after being connected with her via social networks. He had admitted that suspicion and jealousy pushed him to kill her.
Hayat revealed that he had traveled from Jaranwala to Islamabad on May 28 to wish Sana on her birthday. When she did not meet him, he became convinced that she deliberately avoided him, he said, adding that on June 2, he returned to the capital after praising a Toyota Fortner and carrying a pistol of 30 bores, intention to confront her.
