UC chairman, guards and police officials booked in Ranjhani murder case

Police on Tuesday registered a case against Union Council Chairman Rahim Shah, the main accused in the murder case of Jeay Sindh Tehreek Karachi President Irshad Ranjhani.

Shah’s son, two security guards, Shah Latif DSP and acting SHO were also named as suspects in the First Information Report (FIR). Ranjhani was shot dead on February 6 in Bhains Colony within the limits of the Shah Latif police station.

Sindh Chief Minister Murad Ali Shah has demanded a report from Inspector General of Police Syed Kaleem Imam over the killing of Ranjhani. He has questioned how Ranjhani was killed in a public marketplace and why he was not shifted to hospital on time.

The government took action after a video of his bleeding to death on a public street went viral. Ranjhani was shot dead on Wednesday in Bhains Colony and left to die on the public street as people looked on. No one took him to hospital or offered aid. When police arrived, they took him to the police station, where he succumbed to his wounds.

Later, a committee, headed by zone East police chief DIG Amir Farooqui, was formed by Karachi’s additional IG, and the team visited the scene to investigate and recorded the statements of the ambulance driver, witnesses and policemen.

Later on Monday, DIG Farooqui during a press conference confirmed that Ranjhani was a criminal and was shot and injured by Rahim after the suepct and his companion attempted to rob him the UC chairman. However, Rahim, his men and policemen were used delaying tactics in sending the injured hospital for medical treatment.

On Tuesday, the police registered an FIR (No. 105/19) under sections 302 and 201/34 of the Pakistan Penal Code and 7 of the Anti-Terrorism Act against Bhains Colony UC Chairman Shah, his son, two security guards, Shah Latif DSP Shaukat Shahani and acting SHO Riaz Hussain on behalf of Ranjhani’s brother, Khalid Hussain.

In the FIR, the complainant said that he received a phone call from a person, Masood Shah, who told him that his brother had been shot and injured by Rahim Shah and his men in Bhains Colony. He added that his brother was trying to cross the road when Shah and his men came and after abusing him shot him multiple times and did not allow anyone to take him to hospital. Police officials said that Shah and the acting SHO had been arrested. They said the remaining suspects had gone into hiding, and raids for their arrests were being conducted.

Shah remanded

A judicial magistrate sent the UN chairman and a police officer on physical remand for four days for allegedly “unintentionally” causing Ranjhani’s death in self-defence.

Police presented Shah and Sub-Inspector Riaz Hussain before the District Malir’s magistrate. According to the remand papers, Shah did not let anyone taken Ranjhani, who according to him was robber, to hospital until the arrival of police. Hussain further delayed the treatment by taking the injured to the police station instead of hospital.

According to Ranjhani’s family, he had returned from Dubai recently to spend some time with them and was murdered in cold blood. On Monday, hundreds of protesters belonging to Sindhi nationalist parties, groups and sympathizers had blocked Sharea Faisal in protest against dubbing of Ranjhani a robber by police and Shah.

On the other hand, Shah claimed that at least four pillion riders intercepted his vehicle near Babar Kanta in Bhains Colony and two of them at gunpoint asked for the Rs1 million he was carrying. The robbers, he added, fired shots at him as he tried to speed away after which he returned the fire.

As a result, Ranjhani was injured, he said, while his alleged accomplices escaped. He maintained that he informed the incident on police helpline 15 after which police reached the scene and seized an unlicensed pistol from the suspected robber.

A ruckus was seen at the Malir Courts during the hearing of the case. Supporters from both the sides chanted slogans and tried to attack each other. Police guards managed to escort the suspects safely out of the courts in an armored personnel carrier.