‘Nazim Jokhio tortured, killed in attempt to flee’

KARACHI: In a major development in the Nazim Jokhio hostage-cum-murder case, the security guards of MPA Jam Awais have revealed that Nazim Jokhio was tortured and killed in an attempt to flee the house. Meanwhile, the police investigators on Sunday recovered the victim’s cell phone and clothes.

Munir and Haider, the two security guards of the member provincial assembly (MPA), belonging to the Pakistan People's Party, Jam Awais, were arrested in the first raid conducted by the police following the brutal killing of Nazim Jokhio.

“Jam Awais was intoxicated after Nazim Jokhio was brought to the dera,” a senior police officer said while quoting the confessional statements of the PPP lawmaker’s security guards. “Nazim Jokhio was tortured after Jam Awais asked him for an apology and he refused.”

The security guards further revealed that later, Jam Awais asked to keep him at the Dera till the morning but he (victim) attempted to flee at midnight. He was captured and tortured and died during the torture.

The police investigators probing the Nazim Jokhio case on Sunday claimed to have recovered Nazim Jokhio’s cell phone and clothes from a well near the farmhouse of PPP MPA Jam Owais, the prime suspect in the murder case, in the Malir area of Karachi.

The police recovered Nazim Jokhio’s mobile phone and clothes from the well after identification by the arrested suspects. Police said that the suspects set the well on fire after dumping the belongings of the victim in it. Most of the phone had burnt in the fire and the items would be sent to the Punjab Forensic Laboratory.

Police investigators said that the forensic report would prove helpful for them in probing the case. They added that the police have collected all evidence from the warehouse.

On Saturday, Afzal Jhokio, the elder brother of Nazim Jokho, who was recently tortured and killed by a Pakistan People's Party (PPP) MPA and his men after he posted videos on social media showing foreigners hunting houbara bustards in Thatta, had expressed his dissatisfaction at the police investigation team probing the case.