Sindh Bar Council secretary Irfan Ali Mahar killed on directions of his wife, police investigation finds
KARACHI, Dec 12 (SABAH): The Sindh Police’s Counter-Terrorism Department (CTD) on Sunday claimed to have arrested two suspects for the murder of an official of the Sindh Bar Council (SBC) who allegedly spilled the beans, claiming that the deceased’s wife and sister-in-law were the actual masterminds behind the murder.
Irfan Ali Mahar Advocate was shot dead by armed pillion riders as he was returning home after dropping his child to school in Karachi’s Gulistan-i-Jauhar on December 2.
Sharae Faisal police had a day later registered a case against two unknown suspects on the complaint of the victim’s brother, Rizwan Mahar, who had come to the city from his native town in Shikarpur to receive the body.
The FIR was registered under Section 7 of the Anti-Terrorism Act (ATA) of 1997 and sections 302 (murder) and 34 (common intention) of the Pakistan Penal Code (PPC).
A day after the killing, lawyers had stayed away from lower courts and held a demonstration at a section of the National Highway and raised slogans, calling for the killers’ arrest.
In the latest development, the in-charge of Counter-Terrorism Department (CTD) Raja Umar Khattab said one of the two suspects is the brother of the late Mahar’s wife, who had confessed during interrogation that he had received the directions and money to kill him from both his sisters.
According to the suspect, Mahar would behave harshly with his wife and she was annoyed with his behaviour. He told police that his sister gave him Rs220,000 for executing the job that helped him arrange a bike and a pistol.
He claimed that the husband of her younger sister had arranged another man, who was paid Rs40,000.
The CTD, in its statement, said the suspect had also spent a night in a hotel after conducting reconnaissance of his target a day before the killing.
“On the day of the incident, the victim’s wife informed her brother after Mahar left home to drop off their child at school. Subsequently, Mahar was targeted by his wife’s brother and his accomplice who was riding the bike,” the CTD statement said.
It said several raids were conducted to arrest the suspects, adding that further probe was underway as law enforcers were also searching for other suspects. Mahar’s wife and her sister have yet to be taken into custody.
The CTD said the inspector general of police Sindh had also announced a cash reward for the police team for their performance in the case.
Raja Umar Khattab, while talking to media, said that police and CTD had constituted teams to probe into SBC secretary Advocate Irfan Mahar’s murder case. “During the investigation, it was learnt that two suspects had fled to interior Sindh.”
“We received information about the suspects on Saturday night that they have returned to Karachi.”
Khattab revealed that Irfan Mahar’s wife and brother-in-law were involved in his murder. “The murderer of Irfan Mahar is actually his brother-in-law. Due to domestic fights, Mahar’s wife was extremely annoyed.”
Additional Inspector General (AIG) Karachi Ghulam Nabi Memon told the reporters that they first thought that professional killers had targeted Mahar after watching the CCTV footage of the incident. He said that Mahar was a prominent personality, hence they thought a prime motive behind his murder.