Police yet to make progress in DHA property dealer’s murder probe

A court on Tuesday turned down the investigating officer’s plea for grant of police remand of a suspect for a third time in a case pertaining to the murder of a property dealer in Karachi’s Defence Housing Authority.

Mohammad Sohail Shaikh, 42, was found dead at his office within the limits of the Defence police station on September 22. On Tuesday, the IO, Muhammad Zahoor, produced the suspect, Muhammad Bux, before the judicial magistrate-I (South) on the completion of his three-day physical remand and requested another extension of his remand.

The police official stated that the detained suspect, who was arrested on September 29, required to be further questioned about the absconding suspects and their motive behind the crime.

The magistrate noted that IO Zahoor had moved the application for the grant of the suspect’s remand for a third time. The reasons the official had given for the purpose didn’t seem to be cogent as the suspect had already been handed over to the police for eight days on the same grounds but no progress in connection with the investigation into the murder had been made.

Dismissing the IO’s plea, the court remanded the suspect in judicial custody until the next hearing. The IO was told to furnish a charge-sheet under Section 173 of the Criminal Procedure Code (CrPC) within the stipulated time.

Initially, investigators claimed that Shaikh had apparently ended his life by shooting himself with his licensed pistol as he had been facing depression due to a dispute over the ownership of a property with some influential people as well as with his partners Moiz Khowaja and Amir Waheed Khan for some time.

However, the police later booked five persons, including the victim’s partners, on murder charges after a video statement of the deceased emerged online. The other suspects are Bux, Murad Maqbool and Abdul Majeed. The held suspect is said to be a gunman of Amir.

The case was registered under sections 302 (premediated murder) and 34 (common intention) on the complaint of the deceased’s maternal uncle, Sabir Khan, at the Defence police station.