KARACHI: Rejecting a police report that declared the killers of Dr Birbal Genani ‘untraceable’, a judicial magistrate on Tuesday directed the inspector general of police (IGP) to constitute a committee for holding a fresh probe into the murder case.

Judicial Magistrate (South) Vinod Kumar also asked the IGP that the proposed inquiry committee be headed by an officer not below the rank of DSP and comprised of two inspectors as its members.

Announcing his order reserved on an ‘A’ class report filed by the police in the Dr Birbal’s murder case, the magistrate also asked the IGP to submit a report regarding the compliance of his order on Aug 8, when the matter would be taken up again.

Dr Birbal, a former senior Karachi Metropolitan Corporation official and eye specialist, was gunned down by armed pillion riders in an attack on his car in the night of March 30 in Garden area. His assistant, Quratul Ain, had also suffered bullet wounds in the attack.

Rejects police report declaring killers ‘untraceable’

In June, while failing to achieve any breakthrough in the broad daylight murder after a lapse of nearly four months and despite growing concerns from the medical fraternity, the police had declared that his killers were ‘untraceable’.

Former investigating officer (IO) Inspector Zafar Iqbal had filed an ‘A’ class report, which pertains to those cases in which accused persons are unknown or untraceable, before the magistrate, who did not accept it and directed the IO to submit a report regarding ‘latest’ progress in the investigation.

On the last date, former IO Iqbal filed a brief report, stating that empties of four bullets fired at the senior doctor were recovered from the crime scene and sent to the laboratory for forensic analysis to see if the same matched with any weapon used in the past crimes. However, he failed to submit a report of empties matching, saying the same still awaited.

Filing under Section 168 of the criminal procedure code, IO Iqbal had recommended to the magistrate to accept the investigation report in ‘A’ class, declaring the case as untraceable until any further development was made in the investigation in future.

Advocate Salahuddin Panhwar for the complainant had opposed the IO’s plea to accept the case in ‘A’ class.

He had contended that former IO Iqbal had not properly investigated the case, as the CCTV cameras were installed on the spot of the incident along the motorway, but no footage of the vehicles crossing through the Toll Plaza had been captured.

He also claimed that the slain doctor’s accompanying assistant Quratul Ain had not seriously been interrogated.

Mr Panhwar claimed that if no personal enmity or grudge was found to be the motive of the murder, the case did not fall within the jurisdiction of an ordinary court, and rather it fell within the domain of an anti-terrorism court.

Under the anti-terrorism law, the case should be investigated by an official of specified rank from the Counter-Terrorism Department and from the angle of terrorism, he had argued.

Mr Panhwar had said that the complainant, Revo Genani, who was brother of the slain Dr Birbal, showing no confidence in the police, had sought transfer of the case to the CTD to probe the matter afresh under the anti-terror law.

A case was registered under Sections 302 (premeditated murder), 324 (attempted murder) and 34 (common intention) of the Pakistan Penal Code at the Garden police station.

Published in Dawn, July 19th, 2023