KARACHI: Investigators suspicious about survivor’s role: Two Christian victims buried
By Our Staff Reporter
KARACHI, Sept 28: Two of the seven victims, killed in Rimpa Plaza incident, were buried in a local graveyard on Saturday in the presence of a large number of mourners who were wearing black arm-bands and carrying black flags.
The funeral service of Benjamin Talib was held at a Catholic church in Akhtar Colony while Kamran Anjum’s service was held in a Protestant church in Qayyumabad.
Benjamin was one of the seven Christian Pakistanis killed in an attack by two gunmen on the office of a Christian charity in the downtown on Wednesday.
Two banners hanging outside the Catholic church demanded death penalty to the killers. “Give capital punishment to the killers of Christians,” read one of the banners. The coffin was later taken in a black car to the Christian Cemetery for burial.
In Qayyumabad, angry mourners shouted slogans against religious terrorism when Anjum’s coffin was brought to the church. Banners displayed around the church demanded security to the lives of Christians and the arrest of culprits.
Heavy contingents of police, backed by the paramilitary forces, were deployed at both the churches and on the route from these churches to the Christian Cemetery.
Two more funeral services will take place on Sunday. Four graves have been dug side-by-side at the cemetery.
Three victims have been buried, so far. Aslam Martin was buried in the evening the same day when the incident occurred.
Seven people were shot dead on Wednesday morning and another was seriously wounded in the office of Idara Amn-o-Insaf at a Rimpa Plaza on M.A. Jinnah Road. The killers did not kill Robin Piran Ditta, a peon and a watchman.
INVESTIGATION: Police performed a polygraph test on Robin Piran Ditta, the only survivor of the Rimpa Plaza massacre, which showed that he was inconsistent in his statements and was trying to conceal some information deliberately.
Well-placed sources said the police took the lone survivor, for a lie detector tests on Friday and Saturday after the police felt that Robin was not telling truth to the police and remained inconsistent in his statements.
A senior police official said: “During the course of the test, Robin retracted from his statement and the lie detector showed that Robin was not sure on what he was saying. He is hiding some information. This inconsistency and non-confident attitude of Robin created certain doubts in the mind of investigators about his possible role in the massacre.”
He said Robin was being asked same questions again and again with some intervals and he had been giving answers which differed from his earlier statements.
Sources said sketches of three killers were prepared with the help of Robin on Friday. Three more sketches were repeated on Saturday but features were entirely different from those prepared earlier.
Provincial police chief Syed Kamal Shah said: “We are finalizing sketches with the help of Robin Ditta and as soon as they are finalized, they would be made public.”
He said Robin was not in police custody but he had been associated with the investigation. “We have allowed Robin’s wife, relatives and others to meet him.”
The sources said the killers entered the office, blind-folded nine men and shot eight of them. This was a big question as they had shot eight Christians, and why had they spared only one despite the fact he fell unconscious. After all, he was an eyewitness and culprits could not take a risk to leave evidence.
The sources said the role of Robin Ditta in the massacre has almost proved and the police may announce his (Robin’s) formal arrest in a day or two.
