KARACHI/MIRPURKHAS: A day after an inquiry committee concluded that blasphemy suspect Dr Shahnawaz Kunbhar was killed in a “staged” encounter, police on Friday registered a murder case against a DIG, two SSPs, as many clerics and 40 others at the Sindhri police station.

Officials said that the FIR was registered on the complaint of high court lawyer and victim’s brother-in-law Mohammed Ibrahim Kunbhar against DIG Javed Jiskani, then SSP-Mirpurkhas Asad Chohadhry, the SSP-Umerkot Asif Raza Baloch, CIA-Mirpurkhas, SHO-Sindhri and those who instigated people against the blasphemy suspect.

The FIR was lodged under Sections 201 (punishment for causing disappearance of evidence or giving false information to screen offender), 364 (kidnapping or abducting in order to murder), 302 (premeditated murder), 147 (rioting), 148 (rioting, armed with a deadly weapon), 149 (every member of unlawful assembly guilty of offense committed in prosecution of common object), 120-B (criminal conspiracy) and 34 (common intention) of the Pakistan Penal Code read with Sections 6/7 of the Anti-Terrorism Act and 8/9 of the Torture and Custodial Death Prevention and Punishment Act of 2022.

The complainant said that the DIG, two SSPs, clerics Umer Jan Sarhandi, Ahmed Shahani and others acted in connivance with each other and planned the murder of his brother-in-law in police custody over the pretext of blasphemy. By doing so, the nominated suspects triggered terror and fear in the society, he added.

Earlier, a 10-member team of lawyers, led by Barrister Asadullah Shah Rashdi, along with heirs of Dr Shahnawaz arrived at the Sindhri police station, where they submitted an application for registration of a murder case against police officers and others.

They said that the family wanted a judicial inquiry of the incident.

According to the FIR, the complainant said that his brother-in-law Dr Shahnawaz was a grade-18 doctor at the District Hospital Umerkot.

FIR lodged at Sindhri police station under anti-terror, custodial death prevention laws on complaint of victim’s brother-in-law

“He was an enlightened religious person and for some time, he had become a victim of psychological pressure and was getting treatment from doctors of Sindh and Europe as well,” he stated.

On Sept 17, blasphemy charges were levelled against him and an FIR was lodged against him after a violent protest by ‘religious groups’ in Umerkot, forcing him to leave the area, the complainant said, adding that Dr Shahnawaz released a video statement the same day and rejected all charges. However, Pir Umer Jan Sarhandi took out a big rally in Umerkot and forced the police to arrest Dr Shahnawaz.

He said that on Sept 18 victim’s relative Advocate Junaid Ali Kunbhar contacted Dr Shahnawaz who was staying at a Lyari hotel. Later, a team of Umerkot police reached Karachi and arrested him in the presence of Advocate Junaid. However, on Sept 19, the complainant’s brother informed him the Dr Shahnawaz was killed at 4am in an alleged encounter.

The complainant stated in the FIR that the victim’s body was brought to a hospital in Mirpurkhas and handed over to his father for burial after completing legal. He stated that the victim’s father said there were marks of torture on Dr Shahnawaz body.

When the coffin was taken for burial at Janhero village in Umerkot, a mob led by clerics Ahmed Shahani and Riaz Panhwar attacked the ambulance carrying the coffin at around 7:00 am. As a result, they could not offer the funeral prayer and perform his last rites. When the body was being taken for burial, the same mob arrived there, snatched and set the body on fire.

The complainant said that Sindhri SHO had registered two ‘fake’ FIRs against Dr Shahnawaz and his friends regarding encounter with police and possessing illicit weapons.

A source told Dawn that police discharged the two FIRs against Dr Shahnawaz in ‘C’ class.

Earlier on Thursday, a police inquiry found that the doctor was killed in an extrajudicial manner. It said: “Keeping in view the statements recorded, visit of place of occurrence, various police documents, CCTV videos, social media content, call data records, tracker data and secret information collected by inquiry committee from different sources, the committee unanimously is of opinion that the Umerkot police arrested Dr Shahnawaz from Karachi and handed him to the Mirpurkhas police on the same day. The Mirpurkhas police killed him in a managed encounter and tried to give it a legal cover but failed.”

Published in Dawn, September 28th, 2024