Naqeeb Mehsud case: Rao Anwar formally suspended as SSP Malir

KARACHI: The Sindh government on Monday formally suspended Rao Anwar as Malir SSP as the police officer is facing an inquiry into the alleged killing of a citizen in a staged encounter, ARY News reported.

The provincial government issued a notification announcing suspension of services of Rao Anwar and fellow police officer SP Investigation-II East Muhammad Altaf Sarwar Malik.

The notification, however, mentions that both the officers will draw pay and allowances during their suspension period.

With the Supreme Court’s deadline for arresting SSP Anwar expiring on Wednesday, the Sindh police have yet not found any clue to his whereabouts.

The under-fire police officer is believed to have absconded after registration of a murder case against him and his team for their involvement in what investigators described a fake/staged encounter.

The apex court on January 27 set three-day deadline for IG Sindh to arrest the SSP in the murder case of 27-year-old Naseemullah, better known as Nqeeb Ullah Mehsud.

Read More: IG Sindh seeks intelligence agencies’ help to hunt Rao Anwar

FIR No 40/18 under sections 365, 344, 302, 109 and 34 of the Pakistan Penal Code and Section 7 of the Anti-Terrorism Act has been registered at the Sachal Goth police station on the complaint of Naqeeb’s father Muhammad Khan against SSP Rao Anwar and his team.

Rao Anwar in Islamabad

Sources told ARY News that Sindh police traced the whereabouts of Anwar in the federal capital on Jan 22 using his call data record (CDR).

Last time, he was traced near PIMS Hospital in Islamabad, but since then his location is unknown.

They said the law enforcers were working on the last location to track him down with technical support and ground surveillance.

IG Sindh seeks help from spy agencies

Sindh police chief Allah Dino Khawaja on Sunday approached intelligence agencies to help hunt ex-SSP Malir Rao Anwar.

He wrote a letter to the intelligence agencies calling for whereabouts of Rao Anwar. He asked the agencies to provide necessary intelligence/ technical information to arrest the absconding police officer in compliance with the Supreme Court orders.

Read More: IG Sindh gets three days to arrest Rao Anwar in Naqeeb case

“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.

Inquiry report

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 evidence.

The report asserted that Naqeebullah along with two other men, Qasim and Hazrat Ali, was 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 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].