HYDERABAD, July 30: Former SP of Anti Violent Crime Cell (AVCC) Noorul Haq Rind has said that no AVCC official had entered the bungalow where neurologist Dr Aftab Qureshi was killed during a botched rescue operation on May 30.

ASI Rashid Khan and alleged kidnapper Yunus Siyal were also killed during the operation.

Mr Rind said before Additional Sessions Judge-II Aijaz Khaskheli, who is conducting an inquiry into the operation that SSP and DIG of Hyderabad did not respond to phone calls made by the Citizen Police Liaison Committee chief Ahmed Chinoy before the operation.

The judge issued notice to former SSP of Hyderabad Haseeb Afzal Baig to appear before him on Thursday.

Mr Rind’s statement goes against a report issued recently by the forensic examination section of Sindh police which said that at least eight casings matching AVCC’s weapons had been found in the room where the body of Dr Aftab Qureshi was lying.

The report rejected repeated claims made by the AVCC that its personnel had not fired inside the bungalow during the operation.

Earlier, AVCC’s Inspector Babar had said before the judge that the cell’s personnel had not fired inside the house although they had been fired upon by the kidnapper.

Mr Rind said Mr Chinoy had called him between 11pm and 12 midnight on May 29 and informed him about the hideout in Qasimabad area where the kidnappers had kept Dr Qureshi. He was asked to accompany him with a sizable police force to conduct a raid on the house.

He said that around 20 policemen boarded two police vans and reached Hyderabad. “I asked the CPLC chief whether he had got conducted recce of the hideout, a bungalow, and he replied that a man had been sent there for the purpose and everything had been done,” he said.

He said he had asked Mr Chinoy to contact the SSP and DIG and “I was informed that neither of the officers is attending phone calls. Then they contacted police control room which said a police party is being sent for their assistance”.

A police party reached Qasimabad and cordoned off the bungalow and he, the CPLC chief and his deputy took positions.

He said they enquired neighbours about the bungalow and they were told that it was owned by a Noonari man but at present some Hindus were living there.

“In the meantime we heard sounds of thuds from inside the bungalow, which were in fact muffled sounds of shots fired by the kidnapper.

Then we heard him cursing police,” Mr Rind said.

Soon afterwards, he said, a woman and a man (Ashok) came out of the bungalow and told them that Dr Qureshi had been murdered by the captor, he said.

“He informed us that it was he who had tipped off the CPLC about this hideout,” the former SP said, adding that “when an ASI and a constable tried to enter the house through a side gate they were fired upon. The ASI fell down and died instantly while constable Jaffar Abbas was hit in the finger”.

Mr Rind said: “Then the kidnapper [Yunus] rushed out and fired a burst of bullets on us but we ducked and he tried to flee in the opposite direction where he was killed by Bhittai Nagar police. Ashok told us that there was only one assailant in the bungalow.”

After that, he said, he and the CPLC chief entered the bungalow where they found Dr Qureshi’s body in a room. One 9mm pistol was also found there. “We collected empties of different calibres in a bag and in the meantime the SSP and DIG arrived there. We completed necessary formalities and left,” he said.