Missing CCTV puts Raza probe under fresh scrutiny

Five hours of missing CCTV footage, multiple routes leading to the spot where Mir Raza Ali's body was found and conflicting accounts over a possible power outage have emerged as key questions before the Judicial Commission probing the young businessman's death.

Justice Umar Sial, who heads the commission, visited the suspected crime scene in Gulistan-e-Jauhar on Monday, inspecting the guesthouse, Masjid Khizra, a Karachi Water and Sanitation Corporation office and colony, a nursery and the location where Mir Raza's body was recovered on July 29.

The inspection brought the surveillance trail of the case into sharper focus. The commission was told that a main CCTV camera at Masjid Khizra remained inactive for five hours, from 5pm to 10pm on July 28 - the period surrounding the incident.

Investigators attributed the missing footage to load-shedding, but Mir Raza's family lawyer Jibran Nasir said information obtained from K-Electric showed there had been no power breakdown in the area.

Justice Sial questioned the mosque's muezzin and caretaker about the cameras. When they expressed ignorance about why the cameras had stopped recording, the judge warned them that they could find their names on his list of suspects if they failed to tell the truth.

According to the commission's written order, seven CCTV cameras are installed at Masjid Khizra, two of which face the area where Mir Raza's body was found. The commission has sought a detailed report from K-Electric on any scheduled or unscheduled power outage in the area between 5pm and 10pm on July 28. The power utility has been directed to submit the report in sealed form on October 7.

Nasir alleged that as many as 116 cameras were installed around the area, whereas police had accounted for only 10. He said footage from only one of the mosque's cameras had been provided and five hours of that recording were missing.

The lawyer also questioned the police account of the crime scene, saying there were four routes leading to the location where Mir Raza's body was found. He claimed the family believed the body may have been brought to the site and dumped there.

The commission inspected these routes as well as the rear exit of a guesthouse that had been questioned by Mir Raza's father. Investigators also showed the commission the route Mir Raza allegedly took towards a nursery and the spot where CCTV footage showed him throwing something. The location where a holster and cartridge casing were recovered was also examined.

Justice Sial later said several important CCTV recordings were still unavailable and that he would examine how many of the recordings requested by the commission had actually been supplied. He said between 30 and 35 camera numbers had emerged during the investigation.