KARACHI: The Sindh High Court has sought an explanation report from the provincial home secretary over non-compliance with its earlier order for giving police access to alleged Lyari gangster Uzair Baloch for questioning in the murder case of four missing persons.

A two-judge bench headed by Justice Mohammad Karim Khan Agha was hearing a petition seeking whereabouts of a head constable of jail police and his three friends, who reportedly went missing in 2010 near the central prison.

In a previous hearing, the court had ordered the provincial home secretary and the police to produce the alleged gangster — who is currently facing trial before military courts — before the police for grilling and also directed the secretary of defence to provide help to police to get the custody.

However, the home department and the police in their reports again submitted that the alleged gangster was in the custody of the military authorities and they wrote to the ministry of defence and other authorities concerned for custody, but their response was still awaited.

The bench directed the provincial home secretary to come up with a report on Oct 19 to explain as to why the court order regarding the production of Uzair before police for questioning had not been complied with.

The petition was filed in 2011 regarding the alleged disappearance of Lala Amin, a head constable of jail police, Ghazi Khan, Sher Afzal and Shiraz Khan from the jurisdiction of the New Town police station in 2010.

Phullan Khatoon, the mother of Ghazi Khan, had filed the petition and claimed that her son and his friends had been picked up by Rangers on August 1, 2010 and pleaded for their recovery.

Earlier, police submitted that Rangers former inspector Sher Afsar and former sub-inspector Riaz Taman were also being prosecuted before an antiterrorism court for kidnapping the detainees for ransom.

Thereafter, a DIG, who was appointed an inquiry officer, in his report contended that Uzair in his confessional statement before a judicial magistrate in 2017 admitted to have killed the four men, adding that during a JIT session Waseem Dada, a cook of Uzair Baloch, disclosed that the four missing persons along with Shahid Bikak came to the residence of Uzair in 2010 and he heard that two of them told Uzair that they would not give the ownership documents of their plot to Bikak; Uzair asked Bikak to kill them if they did not agree to hand over the documents.

The report further said that the grilling of Uzair, his cook and Bikak was necessary to unearth the truth, adding that the alleged gangster was in the custody of the military authorities and Waseem after acquittal in all the cases went underground while Bikak was also at large.

It further stated that as per DSP, who is investigating the case, a hi-roof van, used in the kidnapping, was set on fire a couple of days after the incident in Liaquatabad during a strike called by the MQM and an FIR was registered at the Liaquatabad police station.

The IO also inquired about the role of Shahid Bikak, who was affiliated with the banned Lyari’s Peoples Amn Committee, the report.

The recovery of the dead bodies of victims was improbable without investigating the accused persons and until the inquiry officer or investigating officer were given access to Uzair Baloch, this inquiry will remain incomplete, the report said.

Published in Dawn, September 1st, 2019