Shahzeb Khan’s murder: ‘Police insiders are helping suspects in hiding’

Rumours of the arrest of Shahrukh Jatoi’s guard still unconfirmed.

KARACHI: The police have admitted that there are informers within the department who are passing along information to the suspects in Shahzeb Khan’s murder and helping them escape arrest.

It has been a week since 20-year-old Shahzeb Khan was gunned down, yet the police have failed to make any significant progress due to immense political pressure.

Shahzeb was killed allegedly by Shahrukh Jatoi near Mubarak Masjid in DHA on December 25. The killing resulted from a small argument he had with Nawab Siraj Talpur, when the latter’s servant verbally harassed his sister. Talpur and his friend, Jatoi, allegedly followed Shahzeb, even after the issue was settled, and shot him dead.

The two main suspects, Jatoi and Talpur, reportedly escaped to rural Sindh after the murder. A police officer, who requested not to be named, said that there is too much pressure on the law enforcers given the suspects’ influential background. He admitted that certain informers within the police force are helping the suspects escape from their hideouts ahead of a raid.



Shahzeb’s father, DSP Aurangzeb, said that the police initially refused to register an FIR. It was only after Pakistan Peoples Party’s Nabil Gabol, who is an uncle of Shahzeb, interfered that the case was filed. “When my son was brought to the hospital, the police wouldn’t even come to the hospital for an inquiry,” he said.

The Jatois are using their money and political clout to stop the arrests, claimed DSP Aurangzeb. “The police only conducted raids at the suspects’ houses when they had escaped. They should have picked up their relatives and other family members and inquired about the criminals’ whereabouts. But this is not happening.”

According to Sindh Police spokesperson, SSP Imran Shaukat, Karachi AIG Iqbal Mehmood formed a three-member investigation committee, comprising SSP investigations south zone Faizullah Karejo and SSP Asif Ejaz Sheikh, who heads the Clifton division, and headed by district South police chief DIG Shahid Hayat.

So far, the committee has not made any arrests. The investigation teams that were sent to rural Sindh also came back without any breakthrough.

Unconfirmed arrest of guard

On Monday afternoon, there were news reports that one of Jatoi’s guards, Zulqernain, was arrested, but the police failed to confirm this.

According to DIG South Hayat, the police had no information that the two suspects left the country. “There is no information from the Karachi airport about their departure but we are also gathering information from other airports.”

Published in The Express Tribune, January 1^st, 2013.