MITHI: The eyewitness of the Jan 5 shop robbery in which two trader brothers were shot dead in Mithi was found drowned in the deep water tank within his house on Tuesday. It was claimed that he committed suicide by jumping into the tank.

Dileep and Chandar, belonging to the Maheshwari community, were shot dead in the violent robbery at their food grain outlet. The incident in the city, otherwise known for a very low crime rate, sparked widespread protests in various areas of Sindh. Top leadership of the Pakistan Peoples Party as well as the chief minister and several provincial ministers, including Home Minister Sohail Anwar Siyal, took serious notice of the incident and visited the bereaved family to assure them of an early arrest of the culprits. However, little progress in the police investigation into the incident had been made so far.

Nagji Meghwar, 42, was the only eyewitness who had volunteered to help police investigators identify the killers. According to him, he was present at a shop located close to the victims’ outlet in Shahi Bazaar and could easily identify the killers if brought before him.

His body was found floating in the underground water tank of his house in Mithi’s Meghwar locality on Monday. His relatives, neighbours and the area police believed that he committed suicide. The bereaved family and neighbours told police that Nagji, a labourer, looked mentally disturbed and tense for the last few days.

Some of them claimed that repeated interrogation by the police investigators might be the cause of his getting mentally disturbed.

Meanwhile, sources in the area police claimed that all suspects in the double murder case had already been arrested. However, the Tharparkar SSP, when contacted by this reporter on Tuesday for his comment, did not verify or deny such reports, also carried by a section of the media. He said police teams were making their best efforts to arrest the culprits.

“We will surely share with the media a breakthrough once it is achieved,” he said.

The sources also shared with some local journalists a video showing a team of the Mirpurkhas police led by DSP Anwar Ali Lakho digging out a motorcycle and a pistol. The sources claimed that the recovery was being made in Nanisar village located on the outskirts of Mithi and believed to be belonging to the killers of the slain Maheshwari brothers.

They further claimed that a clue to the “case property” was given by one of the suspected facilitators of the crime picked up by police a few days back in Mirpurkhas district.

Published in Dawn, February 28th, 2018