Imran Farooq murder case: Scotland Yard team to grill suspects

Pakistani investigators scheduled to visit Britain by May 15

ISLAMABAD: A team of Scotland Yard has arrived in Islamabad to once again interrogate key suspects in Dr Imran Farooq’s murder case. Pakistani investigators are also scheduled to visit Britain in the coming days.

The arrival of this London police team is thought to be a result of Interior Minister Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan’s recent visit to London.

Dr Farooq, a founding member of the Muttahida Qaumi Movement, was stabbed and bludgeoned to death in London as he was returning home from work on September 16, 2010.



Three suspects – Khalid Shamim, Mohsin Ali and Moazzam Ali Khan – are facing trial for the murder in Pakistan. According to local investigators, sufficient incriminatory evidence is available to connect them with the crime.

In mid-April, the FIA reportedly sent a letter to the Scotland Yard through diplomatic channels to obtain the evidence collected by the London police.

The agency believes this evidence will help determine the assassination was the result of a conspiracy hatched by MQM chief Altaf Hussain and senior party members Muhammad Anwar and Iftikhar Hussain in the UK and Pakistan.

The two-member team of Scotland Yard has handed over the death certificate and post-mortem examination report of Dr Farooq to the FIA.

Sources said the team in its two-day visit would also interrogate the key accused in the murder case. The visiting team has been assured of full cooperation by the FIA.

This is the third such visit of the Scotland Yard to Pakistan related to the high-profile case with the previous two coming in July and September last year.



A three-member team of the FIA is also expected to leave for Britain on May 15 to examine the evidence with London police.

On May 4, the FIA had finally submitted an interim charge-sheet in the murder case before an anti-terrorism court.

The investigators said evidence from the UK and Sri Lanka was still required for further investigations needed to wrap up the case.

Published in The Express Tribune, May 8^th, 2016.