THATTA: Judicial Magistrate Buddo Khan Bhatti of Sujawal has ordered a trial of the mysterious death of a young fuel station manager in August last year, rejecting the investigation officer’s conclusion that the victim might have committed suicide.

The 22-year-old victim, Sadaq Rasool Sheikh, was found dead in the meeting room of the fuel station, located in a busy area of Sujawal. His sister, Advocate Kanwal Sheikh, had lodged a murder FIR against Ghulam Nabi and Shahbaz – sons of the victim’s employer, Majed Memon – along with his co-worker, Jan Mohammad Kumbhar, and watchman Punhal Khaskheli.

Initially, the complainant had requested change of the investigation officer by expressing her dissatisfaction over his performance. On her application, the probe was assigned to DSP Sirajuddin Lashari, who later declared the incident a case of suicide and tried to get all the accused released. However, the then Judicial Magistrate Zaheer Hussain Mangi disregarded the DSP’s findings and called out the digital video recording (DVR) of the CCTV camera installed at the fuel station, observing that

DVR was an essential evidence to ascertain whether accused were involved in the alleged murder.

After a forensic examination of the DVR, a detailed report was put up in the court of Judicial Magistrate Buddo Khan Bhatti who found the case fit for a trial and sent it to the court of the Sujawal sessions judge.

Published in Dawn, May 29th, 2023