Man held for DSP’s murder, search on for 4 others

KARACHI: A joint investigation team of the city police has arrested a man in connection with the murder of DSP Nawaz Ranjha and his driver, police officials said. The team is also searching for four other suspects.

The DSP and his driver Jehangir Husain were gunned down on Aug 17 at MA Jinnah Road near Pakistan Radio building.

Security officials, requesting anonymity, allege that the arrested suspect, Irfan alias Urfi, a resident of Sharifabad, is an activist of the Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM).

SP Special Investigation Unit Raja Omer Khattab, SP Investigation Arshad Kamal Kayani, DIG South Iqbal Mehmood and SP Saddar Town Javed Akbar were part of the investigation team that arrested Irfan.

“Irfan has confessed that he killed the DSP,” an official, who was part of the team, told The Express Tribune.

“He is also involved in many other cases and was arrested after a thorough investigation of the case,” he went on to say.

Police officials said they recovered a pistol from the possession of the suspect at the time of the arrest.

“We also suspect that he is involved in the murder of former DSP Raheem Bangash.”

Officials say four other people, Noman alias Nomi, Ishtiaq alias Police Wala, Danish and Rafay are also involved in the case and police is conducting raids to arrest them.

MQM spokesman Qamar Mansoor said he was not aware of such an arrest. However, police officials confirmed the arrest without confirming the political affiliation of the suspect.

On Tuesday night, police had registered a case against four MQM activists and two other unidentified men for the murder of Awami National Party office-bearer Ubaidullah Yousufzai.

More than 150 people have been killed in the recent spate of target killings in the city during the last three months.

Published in The Express Tribune, August 26^th, 2010.