HYDERABAD: The entire Hyderabad region police is maintaining a discreet silence over the killing of a Sindh University student, Irfan Jatoi, by Sukkur police in what was claimed to be an encounter on Sunday.

Jatoi was reportedly picked up on Feb 10 by the then Hatri SHO, Nisar Shah, from his Sindh University hostel room in Jamshoro district. The Sukkur police claimed that he was gunned down in an encounter that took place within the limits of the Jhangro police station.

Information gathered by Dawn revealed that Irfan Jatoi was picked up from room No. 22 of SU’s ‘international hostel’ in Jamshoro on Feb 10 by Nisar Shah, who was serving as the SHO of Hatri police station in Hyderabad district. He was removed from his post a few days back over some other matter by the Hyderabad SSP.

Nisar Shah’s mobile phone was found switched off when this writer tried to speak to him on Tuesday. Likewise, neither Hyderabad DIG Sharjeel Karim Kharal nor SSP Abdul Salam Shaikh nor Jamshoro SSP Anwar Khetran were available to share an official version.

Additional IG Dr Jamil Ahmed appeared unaware of the incident. He has not taken notice of the news appearing in the media to collect facts either. “I have seen something on Twitter as some people are writing in favour of Sukkur SSP Irfan Samoo and some are questioning him. You can better talk to SSP Jamshoro if the deceased was picked up from there on Feb 10 because SSP is the commander of the force. Nobody has approached me so far and none brought it to my notice,” said the AIG.

Zahid Magsi, a friend of Irfan told Dawn on Tuesday that he had seen police picking up Irfan from the SU hostel on Feb 10. “Irfan Jatoi was appearing in supplementary examination for his final year papers,” he said. “I did see vehicles present outside the hostel that day as I was about to enter the hostel to meet Irfan and go outside for tea. I stayed away from the hostel after observing the situation and seeing policemen picking up some persons, who later turned out to be Irfan Jatoi, Saifullah Jagirani and Pervez Jafri.

SU spokesman Nadir Mugheri said he did not know whether Irfan was picked up from the hostel but admitted he was a student of university in sociology department. He said that there was no record available to show Irfan was living in SU’s hostel.

According to Irfan’s brother, Rashid Jatoi, their cousin, Jan Mohammad, had filed a petition for the recovery of Irfan in the Sindh High Court bench concerning missing persons’ cases. The matter was fixed for March 16 and notices were issued to the respondents.

Rashid said Irfan’s friend Saifullah was released by police while his other friend Pervez Jafri was given in the custody of Pannu Aqil police in a separate case.

Police sources said that Nisar Shah along with a Sukkur police team picked up Irfan Jatoi. He (the police officer) is said to have talked to Irfan’s father over phone. “Nisar Shah demanded Rs2m from us for Irfan’s release. My father spoke to Nisar Shah when he called from his mobile phone and my brother [Irfan] also talked to us,” said Rashid.

Rashid has also forwarded an audio recording to this correspondent which, he claimed, was conversation between [SHO] Nisar Shah and his father.

According to Rashid, Nisar Shah forwarded a video clip which shows Irfan brandishing pistols while currency notes were lying on the car’s dashboard. “This video is available in my brother’s mobile phone,” he said.

A police source said that Nisar Shah accompanied Sukkur police just to facilitate their action as per the routine police practice. “Irfan was very, very notorious,” commented another police functionary while requesting not to be named. He avoided sharing details of incident.

Published in Dawn, March 10th, 2021