Pakistani court has indicted 89 suspects in connection with the Sialkot murder

An anti-terrorism court in Pakistan on Saturday indicted 89 individuals accused of lynching 49-year-old Sri Lankan factory manager Priyantha Kumara Diyawadanage in Sialkot over blasphemy allegations last year.

Kumara was lynched by a mob comprising hundreds of protesters, including the employees of the factory he was the manager of, on December 3.

Five prosecutors, including Senior Special Prosecutor Abdul Rauf Wattoo, appeared in jail today for the trial in which challans were also distributed among the accused. Wattoo told Dawn.com that 40 witnesses have been made part of the challan by the prosecution.

According to the challan, a copy of which is available with Dawn.com, videos, digital evidence, DNA evidence, forensic evidence, eyewitnesses, including Kumara’s colleague who had tried to save him from the mob, were made part of the investigation.