KARACHI: Before falling to the suspected suicide attack outside his home in Old Sabzi Mandi on Thursday, Shafiq Tanoli was known for pursuing an ambitious and murky professional career that began as a constable in the late 1980s.

His younger brother, Naveed Tanoli, was killed in April 2011 in Gulshan-i-Iqbal a few hours after the then city police chief had announced the arrest of a key suspect in the murder case of Wali Khan Babar – a GeoNews reporter who was killed in an armed attack in January 2011.

While he had served police for many years during which he remained associated with different units of the law-enforcement agency, including the Crime Investigation Department (CID), it was the murder of Wali Babar within the jurisdiction of the Super Market police station when he being its SHO came under the spotlight.

Earlier, he had served at the Gulbahar police station as its station investigation officer.

As Super Market SHO he aggressively pursued the Babar murder case, traced witnesses and arrested suspects. But in the process at least six people, including witnesses, police investigators as well as his younger brother were killed one after another.

Mr Tanoli was in the news again in May 2012 for similar reasons. While being Darakhshan SHO he and his team killed Liaquat Ali, the prime suspect in Wali Khan Babar murder case, in ‘an encounter’ in the Clifton area. Threat to his life deepened when he faced off with ‘militants’ while serving as Mauripur SHO.

In December 2013, the killing of two high-profile suspected militants in an encounter reportedly led to an attack on his life that he survived the same month.

However, despite being under threat and recognised for his contribution, Mr Tanoli was suspended and demoted recently on charges of misconduct.