Mir Raza case: Commission seeks missing witness statements

KARACHI: The judicial commission investigating the murder of Mir Raza Ali Khan has expressed concern over the non-submission of initial witness statements.

The commission has issued appearance notices to Police Surgeon Dr Samia Syed and head of the medical board Professor Naseem. It also issued a written order following Monday’s hearing.

According to the order, the statements of Haitham, Raziq and SHO Kamran Qureshi were recorded before the commission. However, the statements of the initial witnesses were not provided.

The commission said it had directed police during its first hearing to submit witness statements recorded under the Code of Criminal Procedure. The order said the police failed to comply with the instructions despite being directed to do so.

Police submitted the Section 161 statements of Raziq and Haitham during Monday’s hearing. The statements had been recorded on September 1. Police told the commission that there were no other documents in the record that could be submitted apart from these statements.

The Additional Secretary Home assured the commission that all available records had already been provided. The commission directed the official to investigate whether any report had been left out. If any such report is found, it must be submitted to the commission in sealed form.

The commission also ordered SHO Adil Afzal and Head Moharrir Zeeshan to appear at the next hearing. The next hearing will be held on September 8.

Mir Raza Ali Khan, a young man from Karachi, went missing on July 28. He had left his home in the PECHS area at 4:09am in an online taxi. His body was recovered from Gulistan-e-Johar two days later.

Police officials said the body was found in a severely damaged condition. He had suffered a gunshot wound to the chest. His social media accounts had also been deactivated one day before his body was recovered.

Mir Raza’s father said his son was due to marry on August 30 at Bait-ul-Mukarram Mosque in Gulshan-e-Iqbal. He said Mir Raza was very happy about beginning a new chapter in his life.

Questions were later raised about the initial post-mortem report. Following a court order, Mir Raza’s grave was exhumed on August 8 for a second post-mortem examination. His body was reburied later the same day.

The initial post-mortem report stated that Mir Raza had been shot from behind. It also mentioned several signs of physical assault. His ribs were fractured, while multiple injuries were found on his head and face. Dark marks were also found on his body.

The report further mentioned injuries on his feet and blood marks on tissues in the lower part of his body. It identified a fracture and wound measuring around 12 centimetres on his right thigh.