SUKKUR: Police on Sunday claimed to have made a breakthrough in the murder case of TV reporter Ajay Lalwani by announcing arrest of the prime suspect and two of his accomplices in the wake of a protest march by media persons from Salehpat to Sukkur and sit-in outside Sindh High Court building in Sukkur a day before.

Police nabbed the prime suspect Raza Shah and two others identified as Jameel Shah and Janib Mirani while earlier, another suspect Akbar Mangrio alias Akoo was picked up during investigation into the case, said police sources.

Police claimed that Raza Shah had confessed that he was contracted to murder Lalwani for Rs200,000. Police had recovered the pistol used in the crime while interrogation was under way to extract further details about the case, said the sources.

Advocate Heranand, uncle of the murder victim, said that they were not satisfied with police’s slow process of investigation. Police had arrested only one suspect and were not laying hands on the real suspect Ahsan Shah, he said, adding that police must arrest him and interrogate him about the motive behind the murder.

Naimat Khuhro, a leader of Sindh Journalists Alliance, demanded immediate arrest of the prime suspect in the reporter’s murder case and warned journalists would observe token hunger strike in the first phase in case the main suspect was not arrested and his patrons were not unmasked. In the next phase, sit-in would be held in front of assemblies, he warned.

Published in Dawn, March 29th, 2021