Police catch educationist’s suspected killers

New Town Police claimed on Saturday to have arrested two suspects along with their alleged facilitator in the murder of educationist Syed Zahir Ali.

According to Gulshan-e-Iqbal SP Maroof Usman, initially the two suspects, Rustam Pathan and Ibrahim Bangali, were arrested and the arrest of their facilitator, Zakir, was made as per their indication.

The arrested suspects, said to be habitual criminals, revealed during initial interrogation that Pathan had shot the deceased, Syed Zahir Ali, for not stopping the car as they signalled while Bangali was driving the motorcycle, said the SP, adding that Zakir is a drug peddler in PIB Colony, who provided the suspects with a gun on rent.

New Town SHO Saleem Awan said while speaking to The Express Tribune that the arrests were made as a result of strict surveillance in the surroundings of crime scene, launched in light of statement given by Zahir's driver. He said that Pathan and Bangali caught by the police on the basis of suspicion when they were out for another criminal activity.

The police were interrogating the suspects about their involvement in other crimes and more confessions were expected, he added.

Usman Institute of Technology Director Dr Syed Zahir Ali was reportedly shot and injured by two armed men during a robbery bid near Stadium Road on Friday. He was rushed to a private hospital but he succumbed to the only bullet wound he had sustained in his chest, soon after.

The police had immediately launched the probe into the matter by recording the statement of Zahir's driver, who also helped in making the sketches of the suspects.

According to his UIT profile, Dr Zahir had over 35 years of experience in senior management positions in both academia and industry.

He did his bachelor in electrical engineering from Dawood College of Engineering & Technology and received his master and PhD degrees from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and the University of Southern California and Stanford University, respectively.

Alongside being the director of UIT, he was a member of the senate, academic council and board of faculty at NED university, co-chair of the MIT Enterprise Forum Pakistan and member selection committee of the Sultan Qaboos IT Chair at UET Lahore.

Published in The Express Tribune, June 13^h, 2021.