KARACHI: The Sindh cabinet on Tuesday decided to make the report prepared by a judicial commission formed to investigate the circumstances and possible negligence in businessman Mir Raza Ali’s murder investigation public.
According to a handout issued by the Sindh chief minister’s spokesperson, the decision was taken during a meeting chaired by CM Murad Ali Shah.
The statement said the judicial inquiry report, which was presented in seven separate sealed envelopes, will be uploaded on the website of the provincial home department on Tuesday, while a copy will also be provided to the aggrieved family.
Further, CM Shah also constituted a four-member sub-committee to ensure the implementation of the report.
The committee comprises Home Minister Ziaul Hassan Lanjar, Local Government Minister Nasir Hussain Shah, Labour Minister Saeed Ghani and the Sindh advocate general.
Senior Minister Sharjeel Inam Memon also took to X to announce that the report would be made public on Tuesday.
“The government of Sindh remains committed to transparency, accountability and ensuring that due process of law is upheld,” he said.
Last week, the commission, headed by Justice Omar Sial of the Sindh High Court (SHC), had handed over the sealed report to the provincial government after examining 49 witnesses during 15 hearings.
The inquiry report along with associated documents was handed over to focal person of the provincial government and additional secretary of home department Javed Ahmed Abro by registrar of the commission Abdul Majid on the premises of the SHC.
After receiving the record, Abro told reporters that he would hand over the sealed report along with other record to the provincial government and it was the prerogative of the government to decide whether the inquiry report was to be brought into the public domain or otherwise.
In August the provincial government formed the commission, which was tasked with making recommendations for further investigation and forensic analysis or legal/departmental action and it was required to submit its findings and recommendations to the Sindh government within 30 days.
However, the commission had struggled to meet its deadline and sent an application last month to the Sindh government for an extension in its tenure till Oct 15. Therefore, the provincial cabinet granted an extension.
Besides examining 49 witnesses and available record, the commission had also sent questionnaires to Karachi police chief Azad Khan, head of current investigation team DIG Amir Farooqui and DIG East Farrukh Lanjar after dismissing an application of aggrieved family to summon the senior police officers to testify before the commission.
The 25-year-old businessman and Institute of Business Administration graduate had gone missing on July 28 after leaving his home in PECHS and his body with gunshot wounds was found a day later in bushes in a Gulistan-i-Jauhar’s locality.
Initially, the police built the case around suicide on the basis of the first autopsy, which indicated a bullet entry wound on the chest, and by pointing out business losses and money borrowed by the victim.
Police surgeon Dr Summaiya Syed had disputed the findings of the first post-mortem conducted by medico-legal officer Dr Osama Sheikh.
The second post-mortem report, however, termed its findings “inconsistent” with suicide as the manner of Mir Raza’s death. It said the Exhumation Board was of the unanimous opinion that the death was caused by a gunshot wound to the back.