KARACHI: A local court on Tuesday remanded a detained union council chairman and a former policeman in police custody for four days in a case pertaining to death of a man due to alleged denial of medical assistance to him after the UC chairman shot him in an allegedly botched mugging.

The police claimed to have booked and detained Abdul Rahim Shah, chairman of UC-3, and Riaz Hussain, a former sub-inspector at the Shah Latif Town police station, for allegedly shooting Irshad Ranjhani and denying him medical aid that led to his death, on Feb 6.

On Tuesday, the investigating officer produce them before the judicial magistrate concerned (Malir) amid tight security.

The suspects were brought to the court and driven back to the lock-up in an armoured personnel carrier reportedly due to fears of violent reaction by relatives of the deceased.

The IO stated that detained union council chairman Abdul Rahim Shah belonging to the PML-N had shot at alleged mugger Irshad Ranjhani in self-defence during an armed robbery bid on Feb 6.

He further mentioned that later Abdul Rahim Shah disallowed onlookers and police to shift the injured man, who was the city president of the Jeay Sindh Tehreek, to the hospital for provision of timely medical assistance.

The IO stated that former sub-inspector Riaz Hussain was also found responsible for taking the injured suspect to the police station for completing paperwork instead of taking him to hospital for medical aid and treatment in time due to which he allegedly lost his life.

He requested the court to grant 14-day physical remand of both the detained suspects, as they were required to be interrogated in connection with the alleged incident, while other legal formalities were yet to be completed.

However, the judge granted four-day physical remand of the suspects to the police with direction to produce them on the next date along with an investigation report.

The incident had sparked protests in Karachi and other parts of Sindh, with Ranjhani’s supporters demanding the arrest of the UC chairman and action against policemen who had, according to the protesters, portrayed “the victim as a criminal”.

According to the initial investigations, Shah had killed a suspected robber, later identified as JST Karachi president Ranjhani, with his licensed pistol within the remit of the Shah Latif Town police station when he (Ranjhani), along with his accomplices, tried to intercept Shah’s vehicle to snatch cash that Shah had withdrawn from a bank.

According to Shah, the deceased had been chasing him from the Nursery area before finally intercepting him at the site of the incident. Ranjhani was allegedly armed and had knocked on the car’s window and demanded the money, but Shah fearing for his safety, had opened fire in response.

Published in Dawn, February 13th, 2019