Baldia factory fire: Investigators closing in on second suspect

Rehman Bhola sent on physical remand till December 19

KARACHI: Investigators have begun tightening the noose around the second prime suspect in the Baldia factory blaze following the arrest of Abdul Rehman alias Bhola, one of the key suspects in the case.

“The investigators are now seeking red warrants for Hammad Siddiqui and it is likely that these will be issued soon,” SSP Akhtar Farooq told The Express Tribune on Wednesday.



“Rehman has arrived. Soon you will hear about Siddiqui, too,” he said, adding, “The ball is in the court of the interior ministry, and as soon as warrants are issued, a hunt for him will begin.”

MQM’s former Baldia Town sector in-charge Rehman and former Karachi Tanzeemi Committee chief Siddiqui, who is reportedly living in Dubai on an expired passport, have emerged as the ‘perpetrators’ of the fire.

They are deemed as suspects who demanded extortion from the factory owners and on their refusal set the factory on fire.

Both of them left for Dubai in December 2013, and stayed together there for at least one year, according to Rehman’s wife, Samina Bano. After that, her husband moved to Malaysia and then to Thailand from where he was apprehended.

SSP Farooq said he had no idea where Siddiqui is. But he was sure that Siddiqui is not in Pakistan. “He is not here, for sure. Had he been here, he would not have been on the run for this long.”

After the disclosure of an MQM-affiliated assassin, Rizwan Qureshi, the Baldia factory case was caught in a political tailspin.

Siddiqui and Rehman were also among those who joined the PSP, Bano told The Express Tribune, adding they were in fact close to Anis Kaimkhani, who co-founded the party with former Karachi mayor Mustafa Kamal.



“When PSP came into being, Siddiqui joined the party. So did Rehman,” Bano said, adding the former KTC chief and her husband shared good understanding since the days they both worked together in the party.

The investigators, however, asserted that they were looking into the case with criminal aspect. “We are not being political at all. Those who will be found involved will be brought into the net of justice, no matter which political party they belong to,” said SSP Farooq.

Meanwhile, an anti-terrorism court on Wednesday sent Rehman alias Bhola on physical remand after he was nabbed and extradited to the country through Interpol.

The Federal Investigation Agency presented Bhola before the ATC-II judge amid tight security.

As the FIA completed the task by presenting Rehman in the court which issued warrants for him, the police moved an application for taking the suspect into custody for interrogation.

The investigation officer, Inspector Raja Jahangir Ahmed, sought the custody of the suspect on physical remand, contending that he was needed to be questioned since he remained on the run throughout the course of investigation.

The judge allowed him to take the suspect along for interrogation until December 19 when the case is due to be heard by the same court.

Published in The Express Tribune, December 15^th, 2016.