Lawyer Jibran Nasir has alleged that 25-year-old entrepreneur Mir Raza was subjected to prolonged torture, including being doused with acid, during around 12 hours of captivity before his death, adding that investigators were examining whether he was also forced to drink acid.
“He was with them for 12 hours. For 12 hours he was tortured,” Nasir emphasised at a press conference, citing reports from the University of Karachi that indicated Raza had been administered a anaesthetic.
He said the substance was injected directly into Raza’s vein and could cause numbness and paralysis.
Nasir alleged that the perpetrators were “very professional” and knew how to avoid CCTV cameras, remove evidence and conceal Raza’s identity.
He claimed that they burned Raza’s fingers with acid to prevent biometric identification.
“They knew how to avoid CCTV cameras, they knew how to remove evidence, they knew how to erase his identity,” Nasir said.
Raza was allegedly kidnapped from PECHS before his body was found in bushes near a wedding hall in Gulistan-e-Johar.
Police had suspected that he had been tortured before being shot. The case was mired in initial confusion over whether he had been murdered or died by suicide, but findings from a second post-mortem strengthened his family’s claim that he had been killed.
Nasir pointed out that Raza’s body was estimated to be 20 to 22 hours old, alleging that he had remained in captivity for around 12 hours before his death.
The lawyer also raised concerns over Raza’s smartwatch, which he described as a key source of digital evidence.
He alleged that police took the device from the family on the third day after Raza’s death and that SSP Samiullah Soomro kept it for eight days, describing it as “criminal conduct”.
Nasir further alleged that acid bottles were found near the water board office and that police had been informed about them.
He also alleged that the guesthouse digital video recorder was carried around by the station house officer, while Raza’s mobile phone was sent to the Counter Terrorism Department.
Describing the investigation as an “extreme” case of negligence, Nasir alleged that efforts were being made to protect the “brutal killers”.
He demanded departmental and criminal investigations against SSP Zubair Nazir Sheikh, SSP Samiullah Soomro and Station House Officer Adeel Afzal.
Raza’s father Mir Hassan separately alleged that police pressured his son’s friends to portray his death as suicide and had not provided the family with guesthouse CCTV footage despite repeated requests.
