Poet and CSP officer Mustafa Zaidi’s death case was being regularly and somewhat extensively covered by the media. Investigations into the murky details (in terms of the cause of death) were not proving as simple as they earlier appeared to be. On Oct 18, 1970, as Dawn reported the next day, the Sindh Crime Branch, Karachi reconstructed the scene of death of Mustafa Zaidi. A number of relatives and chawkidars in and around the locality (where the death took place) were questioned but no formal statements were recorded. They, however, did not touch any of the ‘key’ persons involved in the inquiry. They also scrutinised statements made earlier before the Drigh Road police. It came to light during the questioning process that about six months back, Shahnaz Gul (who was found lying unconscious in the same apartment) along with her husband had gone to Hawkesbay with the deceased. While she was in one of the rooms where they were staying, he went up to her to the annoyance of her husband, and the two fought over it. Afterwards, she was sent abroad (England) by the husband. But Zaidi remained in contact with her through post and long distance telephone calls while she was in London. Before the fateful incident happened on Oct 12, Zaidi had telephoned her on Oct 10 but her husband did not allow her to talk to him. A Crime Branch spokesman said, “We have come into the picture now and we would go according to the evidence which comes on record.”

As many as 12 officers were engaged in the investigation. On Oct 19, they were busy the whole day taking statements of Shahnaz and her husband and her other friends. Her contacts were now known to the police but they were concentrating on circumstances under which she flew out of the country leaving her two children behind.

A press release issued by the branch read: “The Crime Branch is making a deep probe to solve the mystery of Mr Mustafa Zaidi’s death. His belongings have been thoroughly reexamined and material evidence has been collected about very close relationship of Mr Zaidi with Shahnaz Begum. Detailed statements of close relatives and some friends have been recorded. These statements throw light on the intimate relationship between Mr Zaidi and Shahnaz Begum and show that their infatuation at times bordered on love which made their friends wonder if it was going to end up in marriage.

“It will be recalled that Shahnaz Begum in her statement taken by the police stated that on the day of the occurrence she had gone to the house of Mr Zaidi in a taxi in the morning and remained there till the next morning when she was found unconscious and Mr Zaidi dead. This version of Shahnaz Begum could only be verified when all facts were available.”

On Oct 21, a police spokesman claimed that the long-awaited analysis of the stomach wash and viscera of Zaidi and Shahnaz had started, and the report was expected any day. An SP of Crimes Branch on that day visited the place where the poet died. The spokesman added the police were going through the statements of witnesses recorded earlier by the Drigh Road police, investigating in light of the information gathered through detectives. Strict watch was being observed on all those suspected in the case.

In other news, on Oct 24, the Karachi Development Authority (KDA) was directed to stop water supply from the beginning of next month to housing societies which had not paid their share of money required to maintain the sewage treatment plantNo. 1. The reason was that the Karachi Municipal Corporation (KMC) and five local housing societies (Mohammad Ali Memorial, Karachi Cooperative Housing Societies Union Ltd, Pakistan Employees CHS, Defence CHS and Landhi-Korangi Municipal Committee) signed an agreement in June, 1969 regarding the proportionate sharing of expenses required to run and maintain the plant located in Mahmoodabad. As per a KMC press note, out of the five, only two had made partial payments.

Published in Dawn, October 19th, 2020