The Sindh High Court (SHC) on Monday reserved its verdict on a plea seeking the formation of a joint investigation team (JIT) in the Mir Raza Ali murder case.
asserted
Court → reserve → case
Ali, a 25-year-old Karachi-based businessman, was found dead with a gunshot wound in Gulistan-i-Jauhar last month, a day after he was reported missing on July 28.
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he → base → July
His family, which has raised questions about the case’s investigation and accused authorities of trying to bury the facts, had moved the SHC last week against a decision of the provincial government to form a judicial commission and sought the formation of a JIT instead.
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which → raise → JIT
However, authorities proceeded with the commission, with Justice Omar Sial appointed as its head.
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Sial → proceed → head
A two-member constitutional bench, headed by Justice Adnan Karim Memon, took up the family’s petition on Monday.
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bench → head → Monday
The Sindh advocate general (AG), prosecutor general, Karachi police surgeon, police officials, the case’s investigating officer, Ali’s family, and their counsel Jibran Nasir appeared before the court during the hearing.
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general → investigate → hearing
Nasir reiterated the demand for a JIT, following which the court enquired about the difference between a JIT and a judicial commission.
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court → reiterate → JIT
To that, the state’s lawyer said, “A JIT will investigate the case from various angles while a commission can provide assistance in the investigation”.
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commission → say → investigation
Nasir reminded the court that to investigate the Gul Plaza blaze, a JIT and a commission were formed separately.
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JIT → remind → blaze
He further alleged that police personnel had destroyed evidence in the case, adding that this was also mentioned in his plea.
Nasir also accused police of “spreading false news through the media” and added that no statements were recorded several days after the case was registered and that the “crime scene was set on fire”.
“It was set on fire to search for a bullet, just as the crime scene was washed in Rawalpindi,” he said, seemingly referring to the washing of the site of the killing of former prime minister Benazir Bhutto in 2007.
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he → allege → 2007
He said no action was taken against the police officers “who destroyed the case and tampered with the evidence”.
“We had demanded departmental action,” Nasir said, adding that it was the investigation team’s job to find the suspects.
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it → say → suspects
The Sindh advocate general informed the court that the “commission’s function was to investigate the negligence (in the investigation)”.
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function → inform → investigation
Nasir maintained that “the SC has in the past also granted permission to form a JIT as well in case of administrative sabotage”.
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SC → maintain → sabotage
“There is sabotage at the highest level of the police in this case,” he said, recalling that police had declared the case shut “even before Ali’s grave was dug” — a reference to the exhumation of Ali’s body for a second autopsy after the Karachi police surgeon pointed out loopholes in the first post-mortem report.
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surgeon → be → report
When the court observed that the government had already formed a commission, Nasir argued that the commission would be supported by the “same team that has failed to trace the suspects even after a month”.
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that → observe → month
For his part, the Sindh AG clarified that the provincial government was “not against the family”.
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government → clarify → family
Following these arguments, the court reserved its order on the petition.
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court → follow → petition
The petition was filed on August 24 in objection to the provincial government’s decision to form a judicial commission and sought the formation of an independent and multi-agency JIT “comprising officers who have had no previous involvement in the case” in place of the commission.
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who → file → commission
The decision to form the commission came in response to a letter addressed to Sindh Chief Minister Murad Ali Shah by Ali’s parents — Mir Hussain and Mariam Hussain — seeking his “direct supervision of the murder investigation” into the slain business owner’s death.
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decision → form → death
They also urged the chief minister to order an investigation and departmental inquiry into the previous investigation team and immediately suspend the officers involved.
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They → urge → officers
The letter was written as lapses in the investigation emerged.
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lapses → write → investigation
While Ali’s family was convinced that he was kidnapped, tortured and murdered, police had initially built the case around the possibility that he died by suicide.
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he → convince → suicide
However, a murder charge was eventually added to the first information report (FIR) after the exhumation and a second post-mortem of Ali’s body revealed that he had suffered multiple injuries and was shot in the back, ruling out the possibility of suicide.
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he → add → suicide
The second autopsy was conducted after a controversy between the Karachi police surgeon and investigators over alleged loopholes in the medico-legal report regarding Ali’s first post-mortem examination.
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autopsy → conduct → examination
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