LAHORE: The police authorities have recommended to the interior ministry to place names of two underworld dons Khwaja Aqeel alias Gogi Butt and Khwaja Tareef Gulshan alias Teefi Butt, believed to be mastermind behind the murder of young transport owner Ameer Balaj Tipu, on the Provisional National Identification List (PNIL) following the conflicting reports of their escape from Pakistan.

The police high-ups confirmed to Dawn that Teefi Butt managed to flee Pakistan from Karachi airport at around 7am on Monday, the very next day of the incident.

However, they were yet in the dark about other mastermind Gogi Butt as to where he had gone to avoid arrest.

The police obtained classified information when heavy force raided the residences of Teefi Butt in Naseerabad area and of Gogi Butt in Mustafa Town.

Reports say Teefi has managed to flee country from Karachi airport

The police high-ups also made revelations about the shooter, his relationship with the two Butts and the classified information which apparently confirmed that these two orchestrated the murder.

“We have recommended to the authorities concerned to place the names of both Butts on the PINL,” Lahore Operations DIG Ali Nasir Rizvi told Dawn on Wednesday.

He said the operations police did a lot of work on the murder case of young Balaj and obtained classified information that apparently confirmed the involvement of Gogi and Teefi in the incident.

“We obtained data using PULSE (Police Using Leading Systems Effectively) which unveiled the shooter and other hired men were in contact with Teefi before and after the murder of Balaj Tipu,” the DIG said.

The PULSE data detected the last contact of a suspect hired for the assassination of Balaj at the residence of Teefi Butt in Naseerabad area, he said adding that the mobile phone used by the alleged shooter was purchased just two days before the murder plan.

Similarly, the SIM used by the alleged shooter was also purchased two days ago from Karachi where one of the wives of the alleged shooter was living.

“We detected some 17 calls of the alleged shooter and other hired assassins which established the connections with the two Butts,” the DIG said.

He said the Operations police also managed to get the original mobile phone number of Teefi Butt which helped a lot to take an important lead to trace the murder case.

About shooter Muzaffar Hussain, who was allegedly killed in the crossfire shortly after the armed attack on Balaj, Mr Rizvi said he had three wives and one was living in Karachi.

He said usually the gangsters used to hire unknown shooters in Lahore.

In this particular murder case, Muzaffar Hussain was a ‘known shooter’ which is evident from initial findings of the police that confirmed him as a very ‘close and trustworthy’ member of Butts’ network.

“According to our findings, Muzaffar had been serving for the Butts nominated in the murder FIR for the last 20 years”, he said.

He added the operations police teams obtained strong evidence of his 20-year-long association with Gogi and Teefi.

He was believed to be a former employee of a law-enforcement agency and highly trained in handling all kinds of weapons.

“It was a suicide attack of Muzaffar as the Butts and he himself believed that he would not return alive from the venue due to presence of several gunmen of Balaj,” the DIG said.Muzaffar was so confident that he first had dinner and then approached Balaj with many of his armed men standing around, Ali Nasir Rizvi said.

On finding the gunmen of Balaj highly charged and aggressive, the other accomplices of the shooter escaped in a private double cabin car which was later detected by some CCTV cameras. The car was without the registration number plate at that time.

To a question, the DIG said the murder of Tipu may trigger a new gang war in Lahore and police teams have been assigned special tasks to keep a vigil on some close men of Tipu family too.

On the other hand, some sources said the Lahore investigation police and the Organised Crime Unit (OCU), were yet not in the entire picture since the Operations police were taking a lead to trace the case.

However, they said, the pistol used in the murder was in the OCU custody.

Published in Dawn, February 21st, 2024