Ongoing case: Sharjeel Memon likely to be questioned in kidnapping case

HYDERABAD:

The inquiry committee investigating the alleged links between provincial minister Sharjeel Memon and SSP Pir Farid Jan Sarhandi in a kidnapping, has still not decided whether or not to question both the implicated officials.

But a source privy to the inquiry told The Express Tribune that the committee, headed by DIG Khadim Hussain Rind and comprising the SSPs of Hyderabad, Jamshoro and Matiari districts, is going to discuss the idea this week.

"Neither of them have been called to record their statements because the arrested suspect [Bashir Brohi] is still being grilled," said the source.



The home minister formed the committee a week earlier to investigate the alleged high-level involvement in the kidnapping of Dr Asif Memon from Hyderabad in October, 2014. He was released after allegedly paying ransom on January 13 of this year.

Earlier this month, SSP Sarhindi announced Brohi's arrest out of the blue, as the kidnapping took place in Hyderabad and Sarhindi was posted in Thatta district. He had claimed that Brohi was Memon's manager and that he was directly involved in the crime.

Memon, while rejecting the allegations, termed them a 'big time conspiracy' against him.

Sources claim that Brohi, during the investigation, admitted that he acted as an intermediary, with the family's consent as well as that of SSP Sarhandi, who headed the Hyderabad police at the time of the kidnapping. "Sarhandi knew who had kidnapped Dr Asif. He knew where and who handed over the ransom amount and when Dr Asif returned home," the source quoted Brohi telling the investigators at the CIA centre in Hyderabad.

He also alleged that despite having knowledge of the whole episode, Sarhandi arrested Brohi eight months after Dr Asif's release. However, Brohi's version has yet to be  confirmed officially. Meanwhile, the police sources also said that the family of the kidnapped person is unwilling to become part of the investigation.

Published in The Express Tribune, September 15^th,  2015.