KARACHI: Judicial Magistrate (South) Mazhar Ali on Thursday remanded all three suspects to jail in a case pertaining to the death of a suspect in police custody.
The investigation officer (IO) did not want to get extended the physical remand of the suspects identified as Sub-Inspector Sanaullah, Darakhshan SHO Ali Raza Leghari and Writing Head Constable Faisal Leghari.
After the proceeding held inside the judge’s chamber, the IO told Dawn that upon the court direction, he had recorded the statement of the neighbours of the victim, Moiz Naseem.
According to him, they mentioned that on April 15, former SP Nayyarul Haq, main suspect in the custodial death of Moiz, had visited their place multiple times and asked for a digital video recording (DVR) footage from one of them on the pretext of monitoring the activities of a gang operation in the area and took the footage with him.
On the other hand, advocate Sanaullah Panhwar, counsel for SHO Ali Leghari, claimed that the departmental inquiry conducted by the police concluded that the former SP Nayyar, along with his guards, was implicated in taking Moiz out the police station in a black car.
The counsel also emphasised that if Moiz had died within the premises of the police station, his client could be held accountable. However, the recommendations outlined in the inquiry report deemed former SP Nayyar responsible for his death.
According to recommendations of an enquiry report compiled by DIG-West Irfan Ali Baloch: “SP Nayyar is responsible not only for the arrest of Moiz, but also for taking him out of the police station overnight during which Moiz died. Later, he (Nayyar) also tried to manage the post-mortem report of the deceased without timely informing the senior command. This puts the responsibility of the murder of Moiz on the shoulders of SP Nayyar who should be included in the investigation in case.”
The report also added: “The SHO of Darakhshan failed to inform seniors about the incident, resulting in the escalation of events, which could have been avoided if the SHO had timely communicated to seniors. Moreover, he was not present at the police station, and left for home instead of probing what was happening at his police station. This makes him liable for a departmental action.”
Published in Dawn, April 26th, 2024
