CCTV footage helps cops solve mystery of two bodies at JPMC

The deceased were left at the emergency ward by their friends, who then fled the scene

KARACHI: A day after two bodies were left at the door of Jinnah Postgraduate Medical Centre's (JPMC) emergency ward by unidentified men, police were able to solve the mystery with the help of CCTV footage.

Talking to The Express Tribune, Saddar Police Station SHO Arshad Afridi said that the bodies of two men had been brought to the hospital by unidentified men in a rickshaw and a taxi early on Saturday morning. The men, who were seen shifting a body onto a stretcher and taking it to the emergency room in video footage, fled the scene after leaving the bodies there.

Afridi said that Dr Seemi Jamali, the emergency ward in-charge, informed the police as soon as the bodies were discovered. The police took the fingerprints of the deceased men and gave them to the Citizens Police Liaison Committee and the National Database and Registration Authority (NADRA) in order to try to identify them.

The police also collected the CCTV camera footage, in which the faces of the suspects who brought the bodies to the hospital as well as the number plate of the taxi were visible.

Using the taxi's number plate, the police were able to locate and arrest the taxi driver, who told the police that he is a resident of Zaman Town, said Afridi. He added that the taxi driver had assisted them in arresting two more suspects, Zakir and Akhtar.

According to Afridi, the deceased were friends with Zakir and Akhtar, and all four of them worked in the same factory and shared the same lodgings. The suspects told the police that they were working on Friday night and when they arrived at their residence on Saturday morning, they saw that the generator was on and the room filled with smoke, while their friends were unconscious. They claimed they were taking their friends to JPMC but they passed away before they could reach the hospital. Zakir and Akhtar added that they left the deceased at the hospital and fled out of fear of the police.

Afridi said that police investigations and an examination of their residence had confirmed the statements of the arrested men.

One of the deceased has been identified as Mustafa Khan, son of Anwar Saleem, through NADRA's database. His family in Waziristan has been notified of his death.

Meanwhile, the arrested men have been handed over to Zaman Town police for further investigation, where a case will be registered against them if necessary.