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Tuesday March 19, 2024

No trace of ‘informer’, rickshaw driver in Ahsan’s killing probe

By Faraz Khan
April 19, 2019

The investigations into the alleged shoot-out between personnel of the Sindh police and robbers near Safoora Chowrangi that left a 19-month-old boy dead on Tuesday are yet to corroborate the claims of the cops involved in the incident regarding their chase of the robbers.

Not only the robbers, if they were any, have evaded arrests so far, but also the rickshaw driver, who is the key witness to the incident, and the informer, on whose tip-off the police started to chase the suspects, are not to be found anywhere.

Whereas the rickshaw driver can corroborate the claims of the family of the slain minor, Ahsan Shaikh, that there was no encounter at all, the ‘informer’ can verify the version of the arrested cops that there were indeed some robbers in the area.

“This case is very simple but has been made complicated,” explained a senior police investigation officer requesting anonymity. “The investigators, instead of focusing on the missing key points of the case, are just relying on the local method of investigations such as recording statements of the family, arrested cops and visiting the crime scene.”

The officer said that the police investigators should have focused on three missing points of the case. “They first should trace the police informer who according to the arrested cops, had tipped them off as he can verify the arrested cops’ statements,” the officer explained.

“If there is no informer so its means that the policemen are telling a lie and if the investigators manage to find the informer so at least the arrested cops’ claims about chasing the robbers will be proven right.”

The officer further said that the police investigators should also find the rickshaw driver with whom the family was travelling when the incident occurred. He is a prime witness in the case and can verify the family’s claims, he said, adding that if the empty shell seized from the crime scene was found to be of police constable Amjad Ali’s 9mm pistol in the ballistics cross-matching report, it would support the family’s claim.

Meanwhile, a team constituted by Additional IG Karachi Dr Amir Shaikh headed by CTD DIG Abdullah Shaikh and District South SSP Pir Muhammad Shah has initiated an inquiry to probe the incident.

When asked about the missing key points in the investigation, the SSP said, “Yes, the missing informer, rickshaw driver and ballistics cross-matching are compulsory and would help us in probing the case.”