Exhumation in Wafflix owner's death today

A court on Thursday allowed the exhumation of the body of Mir Raza Ali, owner of the dessert shop Wafflix, to ascertain the cause of his death, directing authorities to constitute a medical board.

The exhumation is scheduled to take place at 9am on Friday, when a court-appointed medical board will exhume the 25-year-old's body to collect forensic evidence aimed at determining the exact cause of death.

The written order, issued by the judicial magistrate (East) on a petition filed by the deceased's father, stated that the applicant had sought exhumation along with a fresh post-mortem, X-rays and DNA testing under the supervision of senior forensic and pathology experts. The prosecution did not oppose the request.

The court had directed the police surgeon and the Sindh health secretary to constitute a medical board at the earliest and complete all legal and medical formalities. It also ordered the SHO of Ferozabad police station to make the necessary arrangements.

Police Surgeon Dr Summaiya Syed said instructions had been issued to police to secure and seal the examination site. She said various biological and forensic samples would be collected from the body during the exhumation, after which the deceased would be reburied immediately.

A seven-member medical board has been constituted to oversee the exhumation and forensic examination. It comprises Head of the Department of Pathology at Dow Medical College Prof Dr Naseem Ahmed, Assistant Professor of Forensic Medicine at Sindh Medical College Dr Farah Wasim, forensic identification expert at the Citizens-Police Liaison Committee's (CPLC) Evidence and Trace Forensic Centre (ETFC) Aamir Hassan Khan, Additional Police Surgeon Dr Shree Chand, Medico-Legal Officer at JPMC Dr Kamran Khan, Medico-Legal Officer at JPMC Dr Daniyal Mirza, and administrative in-charge Dr Muhammad Yaseen.