Absconding Rao Anwar finally arrested from Supreme Court in Naqeebullah murder case

ISLAMABAD: Absconding former SSP Malir Rao Anwar, the main suspect behind the murder of an aspiring fashion model from South Waziristan, finally surrendered to the Supreme Court on Wednesday, ARY News reported.

Anwar, accompanied by personnel of security agencies, drove to the apex court’s main gate in a white car. He was wearing a mask as he alighted from the vehicle at the entrance to the court. 

Chief Justice Mian Saqib Nisar, who headed a bench of the apex court, ordered his arrest soon after he turned up before the bench.

The court ordered the police to shift Rao Anwar to Karachi for trial in the case and directed the State Bank of Pakistan to unfreeze his bank accounts.

The apex court appointed a probe team to investigate the charges against him afresh and directed IG Sindh to ensure his protection.

The chief justice rejected Rao Anwar’s request to constitute a joint investigation team comprising representatives of intelligence agencies to probe the allegations against him.

The court said the new probe team headed by Additional IG Sindh Aftab Pathan will carry out an investigation into the murder case.

His lawyer requested the court to grant him protective bail, which the court rejected, saying the law don’t make concessions to absconders.

At the start, Justice Nisar while addressing Anwar said: “Where have you been hiding all these days. You used to be brave.”

To which, he replied he feared for life, which he had also mentioned in his letter to the apex court. He insisted that he was innocent and implicated in the case.

The suspended police officer was on the run for over a month since the registration of a murder case against him over his alleged involvement in a fake encounter in which 27-year-old Naqeebullah Mehsud was killed.

A three-member committee formed to investigate the killing of the youth in the shootout found him guilty of leading a fake encounter.

On January 20, Inspector General of Police Sindh Allah Dino Khowaja suspended Anwar from his post on the recommendations of the probe team.

The sacked police officer had gone into hiding after the murder case was filed against them.

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 was registered at the Sachal Goth police station on the complaint of Naqeeb’s father Muhammad Khan against SSP Rao Anwar and his team.

On January 13, Rao Anwar had claimed to have shot dead four members of the defunct Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) in an encounter near Shah Latif Town in Karachi.

Family members of one of the killed terror suspects, Naqeebullah Mehsud, claimed that he was killed in a fake encounter, triggering widespread public outrage.

On March 19,  a bench of the apex court, headed by Chief Justice Mian Saqib Nisar warned that if anyone found involved in providing shelter to Rao Anwar will not go unpunished.