NAUSHAHRO FEROZE: Nawabshah police on Saturday submitted the charge-sheet of senior journalist Aziz Memon’s murder case in the Kandiaro court.

The body of Mr Memon, who had a long association with the Sindhi language Kawish newspaper and news channel, was found floating in a water channel in Mehrabpur in February.

Initially, police believed it was a suicide case but after a series of protests by the journalist community and civil society organisations over what they believed was a murder, a joint investigation team (JIT) headed by AIG Ghulam Nabi Memon was formed and it transpired that Aziz Memon was murdered.

Investigation Officer (IO) Inspector Iqbal Wassan submitted the charge-sheet against six arrested suspects — Nazeer Sehto, Ameer Sehto, Farhan Sehto, Zulfiqar alias Baggo Sehto, Zafar Sehto and Arshad Sehto — and two absconding suspects, one of them believed to be mastermind of the murder, Mushtaq Sehto.

The TV channel’s cameraman, Awais Qureshi, who was arrested on suspicion of his involvement, has been excluded from further investigation after no evidence of wrongdoing was found against him.

The JIT got the post-mortem done again and DNA test of some 90 suspects led the investigators to establish that some of them were involved in the murder.

The AIG had disclosed some of the facts in his press conference at the Shaheed Benazirabad DIG’s office earlier this month.

Later the investigation was transferred to the Nawabshah police team led by SSP Tanveer Hussain Tunio.

Published in Dawn, June 28th, 2020