HYDERABAD: A board headed by the Hyderabad DIG to look into the circumstances leading to the death of Usman Soomro reviewed the whole episode here on Monday and recommended transfer of further investigation to Inspector Siraj Lashari. The recommendation would be sent to inspector-general of police, Sindh, for a final decision.

Headed by DIG Sharjeel Kharal, the board reviewed the investigation made so far. The close circuit television (CCTV) footages obtai­ned by the police show a two-minute recording of Usman Soomro present outside the guest house at 7:39am and another two-minute recording showing the youth lying dead in the guest house.

Usman had received a single bullet wound which proved fatal and there were no torture marks on other part of his body, initial reports said. A post-mortem report is awaited to reach a conclusion on whether it was a suicide or murder case. It would also show whether any toxic substance was found in the viscera.

One police official hinted at the possibility that the gun might have gone off accidentally in the youth’s hands. He said it was a licenced rifle assigned to mukhtiarkar Majid for the anti-encroachment staff.

The official confirmed that evidence, like fingerprints, on the rifle and its trigger, had been wasted during the mob attack.

Inspector Inam Junejo on Oct 16 lodged an FIR on behalf of the state against 17 members of the Soomro community and 25-30 unknown people in the mob for attacking the guest house and the two brothers besides obstructing police in the discharge of their official duties. On Monday (Oct 18), another section was inserted in the police FIR against the mob for destroying crucial evidence.

Another FIR was lodged on Oct 17 against Soomros on the complaint of mukhtiarkar Majid’s wife.

In her FIR, she stated that her husband, Majid Khaskheli, had purchased a plot in the village where he had built a guest room and a park. Usman Soomro was employed by her husband, she added.

She claimed that the Soomro community fellows had been objecting to the sale/purchase of this plot from day one and they had also filed applications against it with the authorities concerned.

On Oct 15, she said, her husband and his brother were asleep in separate rooms when Majid’s driver, Ali Raza Memon, informed her about Usman lying dead in the guest house. She said that she went there and and after seeing the body informed her husband.She said they attacked the guest house, torched furniture and a motorbike. She said the intruders snatched Rs80,000 cash and gold chain from her husband. They also beat up a police officer, she added.

She said when police arrived, relatives of Usman Soomro, including his father, also arrived and attacked Majid and Wajid with hard and blunt objects in the lawn of the guest house.

She said the intruders also dragged her and her husband’s sisters. They snatched Usman’s body and also fired shorts into the air.

Published in Dawn, October 19th, 2021