Judicial commission visits Mir Raza murder site, summons key witness

Justice Omar Sial warns investigation team of arrest if witness who first spotted Raza’s body is not produced

KARACHI:

Justice Omar Sial, head of the judicial commission investigating the Mir Raza Ali's murder case, visited the crime scene and inspected several locations linked to the investigation on Monday.

The commission also inspected a guest house that Mir Raza’s family had identified as suspicious, examining various locations in and around the premises as part of the inquiry. The commission later visited the site where Raza’s body was recovered and summoned employees of a nearby nursery for questioning.

Mir Raza Ali, the 25-year-old entrepreneur, went missing from Karachi’s PECHS area on July 28. His body was found the following day in bushes near a wedding hall in Gulistan-e-Johar. Police initially treated the death as a possible suicide, but a second post-mortem conducted after his exhumation found a firearm entry wound, multiple ante-mortem injuries and signs of internal bleeding, leading investigators to treat the case as murder.

During the visit, police investigators informed Justice Sial that the person who had first spotted the entrepreneur’s body had travelled to Punjab. Expressing anger over the development, the commission chairman directed investigators to bring the individual back. Justice Sial warned that failure to produce the witness could result in the arrest of the entire investigation team.

Raza’s family members and their lawyer accompanied the judicial commission during the crime-scene inspection. At the site, the family briefed the commission on the circumstances and details they had witnessed on the day the body was recovered.

Read More: Mir Raza commission seeks answers from senior police officers

Meanwhile, during Monday’s proceedings, the commission decided that CPLC representative Kashif Iftikhar and Investigating Officer DSP Siraj Lashari would record their statements at 11am on Wednesday, October 7.

The commission also summoned Karachi-based journalists Babar Saleem and Saulat Jaffri for Wednesday’s proceedings and directed them to present their findings before the commission.

In their report, Saleem and Jaffri relied on CCTV footage to trace the movements of certain vehicles at the crime scene following Raza’s death.

The commission is continuing its inquiry into the circumstances surrounding Mir Raza’s death and examining evidence, witness accounts and investigative findings.

In the last hearing of the commission conducted on October 3, the commission sent questionnaires to senior police officers, including AIG Karachi Azad Khan, involved in the investigation, seeking answers to questions raised by the victim’s family. The sealed questionnaires were delivered through the commission’s designated Nazir, Tajammal Lodhi, to AIG Azad Khan, DIG Amir Farooqi, head of the investigation team, and DIG Farukh Lanjhar.

It is worth noting that the Sindh Cabinet on October 1 approved extending the term of the inquiry commission investigating the death of Mir Raza until October 15, allowing Justice Omar Sial to continue the proceedings if more time was required.

The Sindh Home Department on August 24 notified the formation of a judicial commission to probe the death of 25-year-old Mir Raza, with Justice Sial appointed as its head following his nomination by the Sindh High Court (SHC) chief justice through a letter dated the same day. The first hearing of the commission took place on September 1. The commission’s term had expired on September 28, according to a written order issued by the commission.

The case findings

The 25-year-old owner of dessert brand Wafflix, Mir Raza Ali, went missing from Karachi’s PECHS on July 28, 2026. The next day, his body was found near the bushes alongside a wedding hall in Gulistan-e-Johar.

Police initially treated the death as a possible suicide, but the court ordered a second post-mortem exam to conclusively determine the cause of death after the first post-mortem report failed to give detailed insight into the victim’s demise. The second autopsy conducted after Raza’s exhumation found a firearm entry wound, multiple ante-mortem injuries and signs of internal bleeding, leading investigators to treat the case as murder.

The initial post-mortem had faced several objections, with the Karachi police surgeon identifying 14 deficiencies, including the absence of an X-ray, failure to collect hand swabs for gunshot-residue analysis and the lack of chemical examination of gunpowder marks around the bullet wound.

Also Read: Mir Raza judicial commission’s term extended until October 15

The investigation subsequently came under scrutiny from Raza’s family, who alleged serious lapses in the handling of evidence and CCTV footage and sought the formation of a joint investigation team. The Sindh High Court later rejected the family’s plea for a JIT but directed the relevant authorities to conduct the investigation impartially, fairly and expeditiously.

Police told a Senate committee in September that they had recorded statements from 78 people but had not found evidence linking anyone to Raza’s alleged murder. Investigators nevertheless continued to treat the case as murder, while reviewing medical, chemical, forensic and digital evidence.

The Sindh government had meanwhile established a judicial commission headed by Sindh High Court Justice Umar Sial to examine the circumstances surrounding Raza’s death, the conduct of the investigation and any possible negligence or concealment of evidence by police or other officials.

The judicial commission had so far examined police records, witness statements and the circumstances surrounding Mir Raza Ali’s death, with its proceedings raising discrepancies in witness accounts, the handling of evidence and the initial post-mortem. The commission also questioned senior police and health officials over the investigation, including the handling of CCTV footage, Raza’s phone and smartwatch, and the initial focus on a possible suicide.