The invisible man: Police discover new suspect in Pizza Hut doorman’s murder

Ansar’s neighbour, Nazakat, fled when shots were fired and disappeared without a trace.

KARACHI:

A new prime suspect has emerged in the murder of the Pizza Hut doorman, Ansar. The doctor, who was initially implicated, is still behind bars.

Thirty-six-year-old Ansar was killed on November 19 near his house in Hijrat Colony within the limits of Civil Line police station.

It turns out that Ansar and his nephew Shehzad were not alone when they returned from the City Courts the day of the murder. Nazakat, a neighbour and friend of Shehzad’s, was with the pair. It was only until Thursday that the police discovered the existence of this third party and managed to drag him out of hiding for questioning. His suspicious disappearance from the scene of the crime, together with the fact that his name never came up in the FIR, has attracted the police’s suspicion.

Shehzad and Nazakat’s criminal records include murder and robbery. Alleged drug addictions do not help their case. Shehzad registered a case with the Civil Lines police against a doctor named Abdul Qayyum and his wife Shaheen. According to Shehzad, he had an old dispute with Dr Qayyum’s family who runs a private clinic in Hijrat Colony. The doctor is in police custody and they are looking for his wife. However, it turns out that the same couple had earlier filed a case against Shehzad and Nazakat over a break-in at their house.

Dr Qayyum, for his part, denied being involved with the case and claimed that he is simply being punished because he registered a case against Shehzad.

When things did not add up, the police brought Shehzad in for questioning and discovered that Nazakat was with them when Ansar was killed.

On Friday, however, the family expressed dissatisfaction with the way the Civil Lines police were handling the case and had it transferred to the Boat Basin police. The new investigation team is continuing on the doctor’s trail and are gathering his mobile phone records. Inspector Mohammad Mobin remained tight-lipped about their progress. “We were getting too close, so they had the case transferred,” alleged the disgruntled Civil Lines SHO Fawad Ahmed. “Now it is up to them, they can have the officers of their choice punish an innocent man or a guilty one.”

The officer said both Shehzad and Nazakat are currently under trial in a robbery case. Nazakat was also implicated in a murder registered at the Artillery Maidan police station in 2006.

“In the end, why did they (the family and Shehzad) not tell us about Nazakat?” the officer asked. “Nazakat told us that he got scared and leapt from the moving rickshaw as soon as the first shot was fired. How is it possible? It takes about three or four shots before a person registers what is going on and reacts. This means that he knew about the attack and the first shot was his cue to save himself.”

According to the SHO, Nazakat and Shehzad recently robbed a van in Defence and had been squabbling over splitting the spoils. It does not appear that Ansar was involved in it but he could have played a supporting role.

“It is clear that the job (murder) is their own but we were working on figuring out exactly who was trying to kill whom and why when the investigation was transferred,” said SHO Ahmed.

Ansar’s brother Irfan told The Express Tribune that they were not satisfied with the Civil Line police investigation because they detained and questioned Shehzad. “How is it fair that it is our man who was killed and we are the ones being investigated?” complained Irfan.

Published in The Express Tribune, November 27^th, 2011.