KARACHI: Police on Friday launched an investigation into the alleged murder of a builder in Defence Housing Authority (DHA) as the family claimed that he was killed by his partners over Rs200 million property disputes.

Mohammed Sohail Shaikh, 42, was found shot dead inside his office of an estate agency in the DHA, Phase-VII Extension, on Sept 21.

Initially, the police and rescue services termed it a ‘suicide’, but now a murder case has been registered against the victim’s business partners on the complaint of Mohammed Sabir on Sept 22.

As per contents of FIR, the complainant said his nephew Sohail had two offices of an estate agency located in Badar Commercial and Ayubia Commercial Street in Phase-VII Extension.

“My nephew’s business dispute has been going on with his business partners namely Moiz Khawaja and Amir Waheed Khan owing to which the latter (Khawaja) had also threatened of killing my nephew,” said the complainant.

He pointed out that the two suspects had also illegally occupied a bungalow of his nephew in DHA, Phase-I, North Street, on Sept 19.

The complainant said that on Sept 21, he received a phone call from one Irfan, an employee of his nephew, who stated that the suspects had sent their ‘armed men’ to their office in Phase-VII, who were threatening to kill Sohail.

The complainant said that he along with his friend Mohammed Aijaz rushed to the office and asked as to where Sohail was. The office staff informed that Amir Waheed’s gunman Mohammed Bux and driver Ghulam had held Sohail ‘hostage’ on the first floor of the office and they (staff) were frightened of going there as the suspects were armed.

The complainant said that when he and his friend went there, they found the body of Sohail lying in a pool of blood on floor with a bullet wound to his head. They called the police who shifted the body to the Jinnah Post-graduate Medical Centre to fulfill legal formalities.

“I have come to know that my nephew’s property (worth Rs200 million) dispute has been going on with Moiz Khawaja and Amir Waheed who killed him because of that dispute,” believed the complainant.

Published in Dawn, September 24th, 2022