KARACHI: Proceedings of the judicial commission investigating the Mir Raza Ali murder case could not proceed on Monday after its 30-day tenure expired, with a request for an extension until Oct 15 awaiting a decision by the Sindh cabinet.
According to the order sheet available with Dawn, the commission was informed that Sindh Chief Minister Murad Ali Shah had approved the summary seeking the extension and forwarded it to the provincial cabinet for a decision.
The cabinet is expected to meet on Oct 1, the order sheet said, adding that “it was therefore appropriate to adjourn Monday’s proceedings until Oct 2 at 10am”.
The order sheet said that if the cabinet decided not to extend the commission’s tenure, no further witnesses would be called and the report would shortly thereafter be submitted on the basis of the statements recorded so far.
However, if the cabinet approved the extension, fresh notices would be issued to the witnesses. A questionnaire for three senior police officers would also be sent on Oct 2, it added.
On Saturday, the commission had dismissed an application filed by the deceased’s family seeking the personal appearance of the Karachi police chief and the head of the investigation team before the commission.
Last week, the judicial commission declined a request by Dr Osama Shaikh, the medico-legal officer who conducted Ali’s first autopsy, to record a further statement.
In its order, the commission said it had enough information to determine the facts and circumstances of the case and attribute any negligence. It also cautioned investor Ahmed Bhardey against attempting to derail the proceedings through media statements.
The commission had earlier questioned discrepancies in Dr Shaikh’s post-mortem reports. Ali’s body was later exhumed and a second autopsy was conducted, which concluded that he had been shot in the back and ruled out suicide.
The case so far
Ali’s body was found a day after he went missing on July 28. Since then, the case has been mired in controversy, with the deceased’s family accusing the police of trying to bury the facts while the investigators initially attempted to build the case around the possibility of a suicide.
Days after the recovery of Ali’s body on July 29, Karachi Police Surgeon Dr Summaiya Syed had told Geo News that the post-mortem findings in the case had raised several questions, as some observations in the report did not appear to match the available photographs.
On August 6, a Karachi court took up an application by Ali’s father, allowed the exhumation of his body, ordered the formation of a medico-legal board for the purpose and directed that a second autopsy of Ali’s body be conducted.
The Sindh health department then constituted an eight-member board, with police surgeon Dr Syed as the convener. However, in the early hours of August 7, the board was reconstituted through an order issued by the director general of the Sindh health department.
While Dr Syed remained the convener of the new five-member board, its members were changed.
But Ali’s family rejected the new board, which also resulted in the deferment of the planned exhumation on Friday. Meanwhile, the counsel for Ali’s family, Nasir, accused the authorities of trying to bury the facts.
The Sindh government then restored the original medical board, following which Ali’s body was exhumed on August 8.
A day later, the Sindh inspector general of police’s (IG) office notified the reconstitution of the investigating team probing Ali’s death, while Karachi Additional IG Azad Khan transferred the investigation into Ali’s murder to Zaman Town police station from Ferozabad Police Station, where the case was registered under charges of kidnapping.
The order for the probe team’s reconstitution also showed that a murder charge had been added to the first information report.
The same day, the Sindh government decided to seek a judicial commission for the case’s investigation, only to defer the plan a day later after Ali’s family said they had made no such demand and had faith in the new investigation team.
On Aug 19, Ali’s parents, Mir Hussain and Mariam Hussain, wrote to Sindh Chief Minister Murad Ali Shah, seeking his “direct supervision of the murder investigation”. They also urged the chief minister to order an investigation and departmental inquiry into the previous investigation team and immediately suspend the officers involved.
The provincial government acknowledged the letter and announced the decision on Aug 23 to form a judicial commission to determine whether the investigation in the case was being conducted impartially and to investigate the circumstances surrounding Ali’s death.
However, the counsel for Ali’s family approached the SHC, objecting to the provincial government’s decision to form a judicial commission and seeking the formation of an independent and multi-agency JIT “comprising officers who have had no previous involvement in the case”.
On Sept 2, the SHC dismissed that petition filed by Ali’s family, observing that constituting such a body was the “prerogative of the government”.
Meanwhile, the final report of Ali’s second post-mortem for the Mir Raza Ali murder case confirmed that his death was caused by a gunshot wound to the back.
“Death occurred due to cardiac rupture consequent to perforating firearm injury of the chest,” the report stated, adding that the entry wound was on the posterior thorax (back) and the exit wound on the anterior thorax (front of the chest).
“The findings are inconsistent with suicide as the manner of death,” it confirmed.
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