Post-mortem report indicates Bijarani killed wife before committing suicide: police

Funeral prayers of slain minister's wife offered in Karachi

KARACHI: An initial post-mortem report suggested Mir Hazar Khan Bijarani killed his wife before committing suicide, DIG Police South said in a press release.

"On the basis of available crime scene/circumstantial evidence and initial post-mortem report it appears that Mir Hazar Khan Bijrai killed his wife and then committed suicide with the same weapon," the statement read. "Examination of the crime scene and dead bodies indicated that the death was caused by firearms. Mir Hazar Khan Bijrani received one gunshot in the head, entry from the right and exit from the left. Whereas, Mrs. Fariha Razzaq Haroon received three bullets; one on head – entry from left and exit from right ear - and two on abdomen."

"According to initial forensic/ballistic report of FSL, all the empties collected from the crime scene has been fired from the same weapon," the DIG statement added.



Meanwhile, the funeral prayers for Fariha were offered after Friday prayers at Sultan Mosque in Defence Housing Authority (DHA).

The Sindh planning and development minister Mir Hazar Khan Bijarani was led to rest in a graveyard in his ancestral village Karampur in Kashmore district on Friday.

Hundreds, including the tribesmen and PPP supporters attended the funeral prayer which was offered on a ground along a local grid station. Chief minister Sindh Syed Murad Ali Shah, provincial ministers and PPP's leaders also reached the rural town to attend the funeral.

Earlier, his dead body was airlifted from Karachi to Sukkur airport from where it was taken to Karampur in an ambulance. A public holiday was declared in Kashmore-Kandhkot and the neighbouring Jacobabad district.

The couple was found shot dead in their house in Karachi on Thursday, his family and police said. The bodies were found in a room. Bijarani was lying on a sofa while his wife was on the floor bleeding from head. Police said they recovered a 30-bore pistol and four bullet casings from the room.

Fariha Razaque, a former journalist who served as PPP MPA from 2002 to 2007 was Bijarani’s second wife with whom he had no children. The couple had tied the knot in 2008.

The bodies were shifted to the Jinnah Hospital for legal formalities. A medico-legal officer (MLO) told The Express Tribune on condition of anonymity that Bijarani was shot a single bullet to his right temple from a very close range and it went through the head. “Apparently it looked like a suicide case,” he added.

Dr Seemin Jamali, the Executive Director of the Jinnah Hospital, said both the bodies were brought dead to hospital around 5.45 pm. Referring to the post-mortem report, she confirmed that the cause of the deaths was gunshot wounds.



“Bijarani’s X-rays had confirmed one bullet wound whereas his wife suffered three bullet wounds, one each on head, abdomen and pelvic area,” she added.

The autopsy was conducted by senior medico-legal officers, including the police surgeon and additional police surgeon, of the JPMC, the Civil Hospital and the Abbasi Shaheed Hospital. The final medico-legal report was expected to be released in a few days.

Police have taken into custody five employees of Bijarani, including his cook, gunman and driver, for investigation.  “A high level inquiry team has been ordered and we can’t comment on it,” Sindh Home Minister Anwar Sial said.