Murder mystery?: SALU professor found dead

The deceased was the dean of the faculty of commerce and business.

SUKKUR:

A professor of Shah Abdul Latif University (SALU), Khairpur, was found dead on Saturday morning inside his house near Mumtaz Ground, within the jurisdiction of the A-section police station in Khairpur.

The deceased, 55-year-old Dr Lutuf Ali Phulpoto, was the dean of the university’s faculty of commerce and business administration.

SALU’s media coordinator, Prof. Taj Lashari said, “Prof. Phulpoto used to live alone in his residence situated in the staff quarters.” The second semester examinations were underway and the professor was supposed to supervise a test, he added. “The driver went to his house to pick him up. He repeatedly rang the doorbell, but got no reply.”

Lashari said the driver called the neighbours who broke into the house and found the professor’s body, which had two bullet wounds. The police were informed and they took the body to Civil Hospital, Khairpur, for an autopsy but a case had not been registered till the filing of this report. The professor’s funeral prayers were offered at 7:00 pm the same day.

Prof. Lashari added Prof. Phulpoto lived alone. His wife, who is a teacher, had been posted to a government school in Karachi and she and along with the couple’s daughter were living in the city.

“The professor was very polite and didn’t have enmity with anybody,” said Lashari. Several university officials, including vice chancellor Dr Parveen Shah and registrar Abdul Ghaffar Shah, have condemned the incident and expressed solidarity with the slain professor’s family. They have also demanded the government to arrest the culprits immediately and bring them to justice.

Published in The Express Tribune, May 5^th, 2013.