IG Sindh seeks intelligence agencies' help to hunt Rao Anwar

KARACHI: Inspector General Sindh Police Allah Dino Khawaja has sought help of intelligence agencies in hunt for ex-SSP Malir Rao Anwar, ARY News reported.

He wrote a letter to the intelligence agencies calling for search and arrest of Rao Anwar who is suspected of staging fake encounter killing of Naqeebullah Mehsud and his three friends in Karachi.

AG Khawaja has asked the agencies to provide necessary intelligence/ technical information to arrest the absconding accused in compliance with the Supreme Court orders.

“The accused is desperately trying to flee the country. Reportedly, the accused travelled from Karachi to Islamabad via PIA flight number PK-300 on January 20. He attempted to leave the country from Benazir Bhutto International Airport Islamabad by Emirate Airline on January 23, however, he was refused exit by FIA immigration staff,” reads the letter.

The SC on January 27 set three-day deadline for IG Sindh to arrest the former SSP in the murder case of the aspiring fashion model.

Read More: Sindh govt seeks help from provinces for arrest of absconder Rao Anwar

The IG Sindh informed the bench that Rao Anwar was on the run and the police had made every possible effort to nab him, but to no avail.

CJP asked him to inform if someone was providing the absconding police officer shelter from police in Karachi.

Sindh Home Department and Police have also sought assistance from authorities in other provinces of the country to make their efforts in arrest of the under-fire cop amidst the court orders to arrest him within three days.

According to sources, the Sindh government has asked the IG, Railways and Airport officials of three provinces in writing to help the provincial government in making arrest of Anwar, who has recently went into hiding.

The passport and CNIC copies of the suspended cop have also been dispatched along with the letter seeking assistance from other provinces, sources said.

Moreover, the authorities have blocked airport entry passes – a certificate issued to government employees – of 13 other police personnel involved in the ‘fake’ encounter, claiming lives of three alleged terrorists including Naqeebullah Mehsud of South Waziristan.

Read More: IG Sindh urges Rao Anwar to hand himself over to police

In the 15-page report, the inquiry committee investigating Naqeebullah Mehsud’s ‘extrajudicial killing’ had declared Naqeebullah innocent and rejected the claims made by suspended SSP Malir Rao Anwar in light of the evidences.

The report asserted that Naqeebullah alongside two other men named Qasim and Hazrat Ali were picked up by policemen in plain clothes on January 3.

The other two men were set free after three days on January 6 after giving bribes to the officers on demand for their safe release. The men have now become eye-witnesses in the case and documented their statements before the inquiry committee, the probing committee stated in its report.

Throwing light on the encounter site, the committee in its report has said that as many as 26 bullet casings of sub-machine guns have been recovered from the site and no evidence has been found of firing from the victims [alleged terrorists].