KARACHI: The body, believed to be that of 23-year-old Mustafa Amir, who was kidnapped and brutally murdered by his friends in DHA on Jan 6, was exhumed on Friday at the Edhi graveyard.

Officials said that the exhumation was carried out under the supervision of a medical board in the presence of a judicial magistrate.

Talking to Dawn, Police Surgeon Dr Summaiya Syed said: “An unidentified burnt body was exhu­med in Edhi Graveyard, Mowach Goth. It was ext­en­sively burnt with appen­dages missing. A total of 11 samples had been collected for chemical analysis to establish its identity [through DNA profiling and cross-matching].”

“There is a slim chance that the exhumation board will be able to form an opi­nion regarding the cause of death,” she opined.

The body had been shifted to the Edhi morgue for preservation till identity confirmation, she added.

Police surgeon doubts medical board can determine cause of death

SSP Aneel Haider of the Anti-Violent Crime Cell told Dawn that the samples had been sent to a laboratory at the University of Karachi and results were expected within a week.

Regarding investigati­ons with two held suspects, Armaghan and Sheeraz, CIA DIG Muqaddus Haider told Dawn that the murder might be the outcome of a ‘financial issue’.

He said that investigators grilled Armaghan as to why he chose Hub to dispose of the body and Mustafa’s car. He said the suspect was not giving a ‘reasonable’ response alth­o­ugh he admitted that it was their first visit to the area.

It raised suspicions about involvement of other suspects in the case, the DIG opined.

Mustafa Amir had gone missing in the DHA on Jan 6. The police had arrested Armaghan and Sheeraz and came to know during interrogation, that Mus­tafa was killed on the very first day of his disappearance and the body was torched in the trunk of his own car in the Dureji area of Hub.

Order to return case files

An administrative judge of the anti-terrorism court (ATC) on Friday directed its registrar to return three case files related to the alleged kidnapping-for-ransom of Mustafa Amir, encounter and possession of illegal weapons.

Earlier, the Sindh High Court set aside the impugned orders, including the jail custody of prime suspect Armaghan, issued by the administrative judge of ATCs — also presiding officer of the ATC-I — on Feb 18. The SHC directed the ATC-II judge to pass a fresh order in accordance with the law.

In a letter written on Friday to the registrar of the ATCs, the administrative judge stated that on Feb 18, the ATC-II received the case files from his court; however, they have not been returned since then.

It added that on Feb 20, an assistant of the court, Athar, informed him that the case files were not available and were possibly locked somewhere in the judge’s chamber.

The letter stated that the assistant also produced the relinquishment of the charge report (letter) showing the expiration of the ATC-II judge’s contract period on Feb 18.

The ATCs administrative judge directed the registrar to prepare a comprehensive inventory of ATC-II and submit the report to him by Feb 25 without fail.

Published in Dawn, February 22nd, 2025