Mir Raza Ali's father claims son's business partner missing after police questioning

The business partner of Wafflix owner Mir Raza Ali went missing after being questioned by police, the victim’s father said on Monday, raising fresh questions about the investigation into his son’s killing. Speaking to the media, Ali’s father, Mir Hassan, said police had questioned his son’s business partner once, after which he went missing. He said the family had not been informed about the investigation conducted with employees of the guest house in Gulistan-e-Johar, where Ali’s body had been found. “We have not been told what investigations were conducted with the employees of the guest house,” Hassan said, adding that CCTV footage from the guest house had also not been made public. The remarks came as the case continued to undergo renewed scrutiny following Ali’s exhumation and a second post-mortem, which had found a firearm injury, multiple ante-mortem wounds and signs of internal bleeding. The second post-mortem had found an entry wound on the upper right side of Mir Raza’s back and an exit wound on the left side of his chest. The bullet had fractured his sixth rib and caused internal bleeding, while injuries had also been recorded on various parts of his head, face, neck and chest. Police had subsequently added Section 302 of the Pakistan Penal Code, pertaining to murder, to the FIR that had initially been registered under Section 365, relating to kidnapping. Ali, 25, had allegedly been kidnapped from PECHS before his body was found in bushes near a wedding hall in Gulistan-e-Johar. Police had suspected that he was tortured before being shot. The case had initially been surrounded by uncertainty over whether Ali had been murdered or had died by suicide. However, the findings of the second post-mortem had strengthened his family’s longstanding claim that he had been killed. The first post-mortem had also come under scrutiny after Karachi Police Surgeon Dr Summaiya Syed raised 14 objections to the report, pointing out that the body had not been X-rayed, hand swabs had not been collected for gunshot residue analysis and the firearm injuries had not been scientifically measured or photographed. She had also raised questions over the documentation of the bullet’s trajectory and the examination of the entry and exit wounds. Following the developments, police had disbanded the earlier investigation team and constituted a new team headed by DIG Crime and Investigation Amir Farooqi. The team included senior police officers and was tasked with conducting a fresh examination of the case in light of the new medical findings. The new team was also expected to revisit the crime scene, re-question the victim’s family and other relevant individuals, and examine physical, technical, circumstantial and forensic evidence. The family had repeatedly questioned the handling of the case and had maintained from the outset that Mir Raza had been murdered. Family lawyer Jibran Nasir had also alleged that investigators had pressured the family to accept a suicide narrative rather than pursuing those responsible for Ali's death. He had demanded a fresh and impartial investigation. The Sindh government had meanwhile decided to constitute a judicial commission headed by a Sindh High Court judge to oversee a transparent and impartial investigation into the killing.

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