Mahar's family casts doubt on police claim

Says they were not allowed to see prime suspect Sheral's body

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HYDERABAD:

The Shikarpur police on Tuesday claimed that the prime suspect who killed the Sukkur district-based journalist — Jan Muhammad Mahar 20 months ago — has been gunned down in an operation.

The SSP Shikarpur Shahzeb Chachar confirmed to the media that Sher Muhammad Mahar alias Sheral was shot dead and five to six of his accomplices sustained injuries in the police action carried out in a riverine area in the limit of Bachal Bhayo police station.

The police claim, however, is being looked askance by the family of slain journalist who was shot dead in Sukkur district on August 14, 2023. His brother and complainant of his murder FIR, Karamullah Mahar, said on a news channel that their men visited Lakhi Ghulam Shah hospital where Sheral's body was taken for postmortem.

But, he said, they were not allowed to see the body. "We were happy and we congratulated each other when we heard about Sheral's death but we have a strong doubt that he wasn't killed in a police operation. He rather died of a cardiac arrest," Karamullah contended.

He also referred to initial views of the medico legal officers who conducted Sheral's postmortem and said even the doctor did not clarify how was he killed. According to him, the accused person's dead body was placed on ice slabs in the health facility. The SSP, meanwhile, maintained that they stumbled upon Sheral while searching for a wanted dacoit Nasrullah Jatoi.

According to him, the rangers-assisted police operation in the riverine areas of Shikarpur and other neighbouring districts, has continued since October, 2024. "Sheral was also our target. Their hideout was destroyed." Although the SSP claimed to have information about injuring five or six suspects in the operation, the police could only lay their hands on Sheral's body.

Mahar was shot dead on Queens Road by armed men, riding a motorbike, when he was heading to his home from the office of his news channel at around 9.15pm. He sustained three gunshots and succumbed to his fatal injuries in Hira Hospital two hours later.

His brother nominated 12 suspects with names in the FIR besides four unknown. The accused included Sheral, Naseer Mahar, Qurban Mahar, Roshan Mahar, Gulzar Mahar and Mir Muhammad Mahar, and others, all residents of Chak village in Shikarpur which was also happened to be the journalist's ancestral village.