KARACHI: The Sindh government’s home department on Thursday constituted a Joint Interrogation Team (JIT) for the interrogation of accused Abdul Rehman, alias Bhola, who was recently arrested in Thailand with Interpol’s help for his involvement in the 2012 Baldia factory fire that claimed lives of 250 workers, according to a notification.

The official notification quoting SSP-Investigation-I [West Zone] Akhtar Farooq stated that the accused was also involved in other heinous crimes, registered at other police stations, apart from the Baldia inferno case, which was registered at the SITE-B police station.

The JIT would be headed by Akhtar Farooq, SSP-Investigation-I, as its convener while its the members included representatives of military and civilian intelligence agencies, Pakistan Rangers and police’s Special Branch and the Counter-terrorism Department.

“The JIT will interrogate the matter within seven days and will submit the report to the home department within two days from the date of completion of the interrogation.”

Meanwhile, sources told Dawn that Rehman Bhola had been living in Thailand for the last two years. His visa had also expired and the Pakistan law enforcers were working for his arrest.

The sources said that he was involved in ‘jewellery business’ in Bangkok and used to send Rs25,000 to Rs26,000 to his family in Karachi every month.

They said he expressed no ‘regrets’ over the Baldia inferno and appeared “very confident” during the initial investigation by law enforcers. “He was trying to shift the burden of responsibility to others.”

They said that besides the Baldia factory fire case, Rehman Bhola was allegedly involved in 10 to 12 criminal cases lodged at different police stations in district West. Of them, six to seven cases against him were withdrawn under the National Reconciliation Ordinance. But in one murder case in Baldia he was declared an absconder by court.

Published in Dawn, December 16th, 2016