JIT formed to probe recovery of liquor from Sharjeel Memon’s hospital room

Karachi Additional Inspector General Amir Ahmed Shaikh has formed a three-member Joint Investigation Team (JIT) to ascertain the facts behind the recovery of liquor bottles from the hospital room of under-trial MPA Sharjeel Inam Memon.

The bottles were reportedly found on Saturday when the Chief Justice of Pakistan Mian Saqib Nisar paid a surprise visit to Memon’s hospital room, which had been declared a sub-jail. The Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) MPA and former minister, who is facing corruption references, was being treated at the Ziauddin Hospital in Clifton.

The hospital lies under the jurisdiction of the Boat Basin police station. An FIR was registered there later that day on the complaint of Assistant Jail Superintendent Mujahid Khan, who is also serving as in charge of the sub-jail at the hospital.

According to Khan, he and his staff were on duty outside the hospital room where Memon, an under-trial prisoner, was admitted. On Saturday morning, he received a tip-off that illegal activities had taken place in Memon’s room.

Khan said that he and his staff entered the room to investigate and found two bottles of liquor which they took into custody. They also arrested Shakar Deen, Mushtaq Ali and Khurram, Memon’s staffers, and registered an FIR.

On Sunday, the investigation staff produced the accused persons in court, which granted judicial custody. Memon is already in jail after the CJP issued the orders to shift him back to Central Prison.

Later on Sunday, Karachi Addl IGP Shaikh formed a team to investigate the incident. The team comprises South Range DIG Javed Alam Odho as the chairman and SSP Abdullah Jan of Investigation-I South and SSP Shabbir Memon of Investigation-I East Range. They have been authorised to take on board any other officer of Karachi Range to assist in the investigation.

DIG Odho told The News that the JIT had collected samples from the items recovered from Memon’s room and sent them for forensic and chemical examination. According to him, the relevant department would submit their reports by Monday or Tuesday. Odho said that if the recovered material is confirmed to be liquor and if alcohol is also found in the blood samples collected from Memon, the FIR would be upgraded to include Section 11 of the Prohibition Ordinance.

The DIG further said that Memon’s blood samples were taken by the jail authorities as he is under their custody and were sent to the Aga Khan Laboratory for examination. Statements of the officials deployed at the hospital have also been recorded, while the records of people who came to visit Memon have also been obtained along with CCTV footage. He added the final report will be submitted to the authorities in the coming week.

‘Penalised for service’

Meanwhile, PPP Chairman Bilawal Bhutto Zardari has said that Memon is being penalised for his services for the party.

Bilawal said this on Sunday during a meeting with Rawal Sharjeel Memon, the imprisoned minister’s son, who called on him at Bilawal House.

Rawal informed Bilawal of the “false and fabricated media trial” of his father and also spoke to him about the issues of PS-63, the Tando Jam constituency from where Memon won last month’s general elections.

The PPP chief said his party was a democratic force and it would remain steadfast against all the odds.

He further said that during its last five-year tenure, the PPP’s Sindh government had undertaken massive development works in PS-63 and in the rest of the province. “The development works will continue with the same zeal,” he said.

Bilawal congratulated Rawal for conducting a successful election campaign for his father in PS-63 during his absence and also thanked the voters for deciding in favour of the PPP’s candidate.

Rawal assured the PPP chairman that he and his team would do their best to serve the voters of his constituency and they would work hard to make the entire country a stronghold of PPP. The meeting also took into consideration the political situation of the province.

— With additional input from Azeem Samar