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KARACHI, Oct 24: Police seem to have acted in haste by removing from the scene of crime crucial evidence hours after the Oct 18 twin bomb attacks on the motorcade of Pakistan People’s Party chairperson Benazir Bhutto, it emerged on Wednesday.
Detectives acquainted with standard investigation techniques feel certain that the police may have lost key evidence in the process.
The special investigation group of the Federal Investigation Agency has also expressed apprehensions that some important evidence has been lost in its early removal from the crime scene.
Since the attacks occurred in the jurisdiction of police’s Zone East, the SP investigations of that zone should secured the scene of crime and preserved the evidence, remarked a senior officer.
SP Investigations East Dr Amir Shaikh confirmed that since the incident occurred in Bahadurabad it was in his jurisdiction.
“The evidence was already removed when I reached the crime scene as I was engaged in route duty for the procession and was stuck up in the traffic muddle,” SP Shaikh told Dawn.
He added that the Rangers present on the spot secured the crime scene.
Asked on whose orders the evidence was removed, the SP investigations east said that it was perhaps the DIG east who was reportedly concerned over the traffic jam on Sharea Faisal.
DIG East Dr Sain Rakhio Merani told Dawn that subsequent to the blasts, the CID, special branch and IG himself had inspected the crime scene and completed the examination. The evidence was removed primarily due to the consideration of the traffic blockade, he said.
Asked if it would not have been better if the police had waited for daylight to examine the crime scene before removing the evidence, the DIG remarked that the examination was completed in the hours following the blast.
Remains of second head
The remains of a second head were also found the next morning at a considerable distance from the spot.
Hospital sources said that only the skin of the right side of the scalp and frontal parietal region were found by the investigators. The crucial piece of evidence was taken in possession by the CID, which has reconstructed the remaining portion of the missing region in an attempt to complete the face.
Hospital sources said that no legal formalities have been completed for the found portion of the face.
A large number of intelligence sleuths visited the Jinnah Postgraduate Medical Centre to examine the remains, but they were finally removed by the CID, which went ahead with the reconstruction process.
Police witness skipped
The investigators probing the case have reportedly taken the statements of 280 wounded persons as part of the basic element of the investigation, but in the process they seem to have forgotten to take the statement of ASP Sohail Zafar Chattah, who was practically leading the security detail of Ms Bhutto.
ASP Chattah suffered a pellet entry-exit wound close to his ankle in the second blast after falling to the ground from the roof of the jammer vehicle.
“Being a law-enforcer, I could have given a better account of what I witnessed on that fateful night,” ASP Chattah told Dawn.
FIR issues
The Sindh Home Department has given the green signal for the registration of a separate FIR in the case of bomb attacks targeting Benazir Bhutto’s welcome convoy on behalf of the Pakistan People’s Party chairperson.
A source close to the process said the department had sought an opinion from its law division after the Sindh police sought permission from the provincial government for the registration of a separate case.
“The department replied and the Sindh police have been formally informed about the opinion,” he said. “Though the case has already been registered on the state’s behalf, a separate FIR can be lodged on behalf of Ms Bhutto as chairperson of the PPP, which is an aggrieved party,” the source said.
The Bahadurabad police registered an FIR (183/2007) on Oct 19 a few hours after the attacks on the former prime minister’s motorcade. The FIR was registered under Sections 324 (attempt to commit Qatl-i-Amd), 302 (Qatl-i-Amd), 427/34 (mischief causing damage to the amount of fifty rupees) of the Pakistan Penal Code and Sections 3 (punishment for causing explosion likely to endanger life or property) and 4 (punishment for attempt to cause [an] explosion or for making or keeping explosives with intent to endanger life or property) of the Explosive Substances Act 1908 against unknown persons.
