KARACHI: A man wanted in over two dozen murder cases, including that of Parveen Rehman, was shot dead in an alleged encounter in the Manghopir area late Tuesday night, officials said on Wednesday.
Mehfuzullah, alias Pir alias Bhalu, was gunned down during a raid on his hideout, well-protected with modern technology, by a special CID police team.
He had established a ‘reign of terror’ in the Kati Pahari and surrounding areas for the past six years, said the chief of the CID’s counter-terror unit, Raja Umer Khattab, at a press conference in his office on Wednesday.
Tracing the origins of criminal activity of the killed suspect, the CID official said till 2008 Bhalu was a rickshaw driver. But later he joined a political party and was imprisoned for engineering ethnic disturbances in Qasba Colony. Originally hailing from Tor Ghar near Mansehra, the suspect was expelled from the political party for his alleged criminal record when he was released from prison.
He formed his own gang, comprising between 20 and 22 men, and started patronising drug peddlers. He also joined the Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan (Zawal group) and both groups jointly fought law enforcement agencies.
For a considerable period, Bhalu lived in his hideout set up on a hillock in the Kati Pahari area, where barriers were erected and CCTV cameras installed. Thus efforts in the past failed as the gang watched movements of LEAs and escaped action. Recently, he shifted his hideout to a Manghopir area.
The CID official said the special team raided the hideout from its back to avoid being seen by his men and in the ensuing shootout, lasting around half an hour, the wanted man was killed.
Raja Umer said Bhalu was also involved in the illegal sale of water in Qasba Colony and once he had a ‘quarrel’ with the slain OPP director Perveen Rehman.
“Bhalu had links with different mafias in the area but it could not be said with certainty that he was directly involved in Ms Rehman’s murder,” added the CID official.
Perveen Rehman was shot dead on March 21, 2013 at the Banaras flyover while being driven in a car.
A suspect arrested in the murder case was recently released by an anti-terrorism court for want of sufficient evidence.
Initially, the police had blamed militants for the OPP director’s murder and had killed a suspect, Qari Bilal, in an alleged encounter.
A judicial inquiry was also held into the incident and its findings questioned the veracity of claims of the police about the encounter. Later, under directions of the Supreme Court, the police authorities added the land and water mafia as probable suspects in the murder case.
Raja Umer Khattab said Bhalu was nominated in 27 cases at different police stations, including that of targeted killing of police officials. He was involved in the killings of over two dozen people besides other crimes. The Sindh government had announced a Rs500,000 reward for his arrest.
Two ‘militants’ killed in encounter
Two suspected militants were shot dead in an encounter in the Manghopir area on Wednesday evening, officials said.
A special team of the CID anti-extremism cell (AEC) on a tip-off conducted a targeted raid in Kunwari Colony, where they came under intense fire, claimed CID AEC chief DSP Ali Raza.
The police returned fire and arrested two suspects in the wounded condition, but they died while being taken to the Civil Hospital Karachi, he added.
The DSP identified the killed men as Akbar and Nazeer and claimed that they belonged to the Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan.
The official said that Akbar was the ‘mastermind’ in the bomb attack on Inspector Shafiq Tanoli and the terror attack on Sachal Rangers in Nazimabad recently.
Police manipulated probe into murder of philanthropist
ISLAMABAD: A judicial inquiry into the investigation of the murder of renowned philanthropist Parveen Rehman appears to have uncovered manipulation by police investigators and has recommended that the whole case be reinvestigated by “efficient, independent and honest police officer(s)”.
The report, prepared by a district and sessions judge in Karachi on the orders of the Supreme Court, is expected to be presented in the court of Justice Nasir-ul-Mulk when he hears a constitutional petition filed by the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan (HRCP).
According to an executive summary obtained by Dawn, police officials “did not hesitate to manipulate key aspects of the investigation”. Qari Bilal, the man blamed for Parveen’s murder, was allegedly killed in a shootout with police on Sultanabad Road in Karachi on March 14.
“The story of the mysterious encounter and recovery of the pistol does not inspire confidence as the police officer, namely Ashfaq Hussain Baloch, station house office at Manghopir police station – who claims to have killed Qari Bilal in an encounter and recovered (the) pistol from him – has stated that Qari Bilal had sustained multiple firearm injuries but he did not know on what parts of the body. No one was injured from the police side,” the report said.
Casting further doubts on the police account, the inquiry officer maintains, “Before making their escape… the three companions of Qari Bilal… set on fire the car they were traveling in. After encountering a huge police party in which their companion was killed, they could not afford to waste time in setting the car on fire. Such conduct on their part is unnatural. The artificiality of the story is apparent”, it said.
The report also casts doubts on the veracity of the ballistic evidence that allowed police to connect Qari Bilal to Parveen’s murder. “The evidence regarding the matching of (casings) recovered from the (crime scene) with the pistol allegedly recovered from Qari Bilal is also not free from manipulation. Police had no clue about the involvement of Qari Bilal in the murder of Parveen Rahman and there was no occasion for sending the (casings) and the pistol to ballistic experts for matching. In order to minimise the chances of manipulation, (casings) are required to be sealed and sent immediately to the Forensic Laboratory without waiting for the recovery of the weapon. This was not done in this case. The casings were recovered on March 13, 2013. Even though the next day was a working day, the (casings) were sent to the laboratory on March 15, after the recovery of the alleged murder weapon. There is no explanation for the delay, except that police wanted to manipulate things,” the report said.
In addition to these revelations, the report calls for extending police protection to staff of the Orangi Pilot Project (OPP), reopening of the investigation into the murder of OPP workers as well as the death of Qari Bilal and his alleged connection to Parveen’s murder.
Parveen Rehman was shot dead by two men on a motorcycle on Manghopir Road on March 13 last year. According to her sister, Parveen regularly campaigned against land and water-tanker mafias, investigating and documenting their activities. According to the report, the mafias were making an annual Rs500 million from this racket and they could not afford a voice being raised against them.
