PIMS double-murder: Police nab the ‘mastermind’
Suspect is believed to have planned all three attacks on an under-trial prisoner.
ISLAMABAD:
The city police on Wednesday arrested one of the suspects in the shooting at the Pakistan Institute of Medical Sciences (Pims) that left two women dead and another injured.
The Saddar police said the suspect “confirmed” that their real target was the under-trial prisoner Rana Sarwat, who was admitted in an adjacent room in the Pims VIP ward.
Mujahid alias Seth Mansoor was arrested from Bhara Kahu in the outskirts of the city, where he was inspecting a land owned by a relative. Police believe he was the master planner behind all three attacks on Sarwat. “In the third attack at Pims, he accompanied the hired assassins to make sure that Sarwat was killed this time,” said a police official.
Mujahid is a cousin of the boy who was kidnapped and murdered by Sarwat and his accomplices in 2001, said a police official involved in the investigations of all three murder attempts on the under-trial prisoner. Sarwat was convicted for the kidnapping and is still under trial for the murder. The boy’s family had decided to kill Sarwat in revenge and “Mujahid was in charge” of achieving those ends, he added.
Police said they were led to Mujahid by information from a suspect arrested from the district courts after the second attack on Sarwat.
A police official said that the revenge campaign was being financed by an uncle of the murdered boy and his cousin, who live in England and Karachi respectively. They are both wealthy businessmen, Mujahid told the police. They had bought some 100 kanals in Bhara Kahu, of which Mujahid was made in-charge. He was inspecting the land when he was arrested.
A case was registered against the unknown gunmen on January 14 for the murder of Bilqees Bibi and Saleha Bibi in room 9 of the VIP ward. Two gunmen entered the ward and opened indiscriminate fire in the room, while their actual target, Rana Sarwat, was safe in room 8.
He was shot and injured by a gunman on district court premises in December 2011 and was admitted to Pims for treatment. Sarwat also suffered minor injuries during an attack on him on courts premises in September.
Published in The Express Tribune, January 26th, 2012.
The city police on Wednesday arrested one of the suspects in the shooting at the Pakistan Institute of Medical Sciences (Pims) that left two women dead and another injured.
The Saddar police said the suspect “confirmed” that their real target was the under-trial prisoner Rana Sarwat, who was admitted in an adjacent room in the Pims VIP ward.
Mujahid alias Seth Mansoor was arrested from Bhara Kahu in the outskirts of the city, where he was inspecting a land owned by a relative. Police believe he was the master planner behind all three attacks on Sarwat. “In the third attack at Pims, he accompanied the hired assassins to make sure that Sarwat was killed this time,” said a police official.
Mujahid is a cousin of the boy who was kidnapped and murdered by Sarwat and his accomplices in 2001, said a police official involved in the investigations of all three murder attempts on the under-trial prisoner. Sarwat was convicted for the kidnapping and is still under trial for the murder. The boy’s family had decided to kill Sarwat in revenge and “Mujahid was in charge” of achieving those ends, he added.
Police said they were led to Mujahid by information from a suspect arrested from the district courts after the second attack on Sarwat.
A police official said that the revenge campaign was being financed by an uncle of the murdered boy and his cousin, who live in England and Karachi respectively. They are both wealthy businessmen, Mujahid told the police. They had bought some 100 kanals in Bhara Kahu, of which Mujahid was made in-charge. He was inspecting the land when he was arrested.
A case was registered against the unknown gunmen on January 14 for the murder of Bilqees Bibi and Saleha Bibi in room 9 of the VIP ward. Two gunmen entered the ward and opened indiscriminate fire in the room, while their actual target, Rana Sarwat, was safe in room 8.
He was shot and injured by a gunman on district court premises in December 2011 and was admitted to Pims for treatment. Sarwat also suffered minor injuries during an attack on him on courts premises in September.
Published in The Express Tribune, January 26th, 2012.