Rao Anwar appears before SC, arrested, sent back to Karachi

ISLAMABAD: Former Malir SSP Rao Anwar, the main accused in the extrajudicial killing of Naqeebullah Mehsud, was finally arrested after he appeared before the Supreme Court on Wednesday.

A three-member bench, headed by Chief Justice Saqib Nisar and comprising Justice Umar Ata Bandial and Justice Ijazul Ahsan, heard a suo motu case on the murder of 27-year-old Naqeebullah Mehsud, who was allegedly killed by Rao and his team in a fake encounter on January 17 in Karachi.

Rao, who appeared before the court, was earlier brought to the Supreme Court in a white-coloured Toyota Corolla with police escort. He was wearing a surgical mask when he disembarked from the car.

His counsel submitted before the court that in pursuance of the court’s last order, Raohad surrendered before the bench and pleaded that he should be granted protective bail. He also requested that contempt notice should also be withdrawn against his client.

The chief justice, however, declined to grant protective bail and ordered the police to take Rao into custody. But the court withdrew the contempt notice issued to the police officer last month yet ruled that his name would remain on the Exit Control List (ECL) until the probe was completed. It also ordered the un-freezing of Anwar's bank accounts, which had been seized earlier on its orders.

“You were so brave and arresting the people but where were you hiding for the last one month?" the chief justice asked Rao. When the former SSP contended that he was innocent, the chief justice asked him why he didn’t surrender if that was the case.

Rao replied that he was facing some threats which he had already mentioned in the letter sent to the chief justice who remarked it was inappropriate to write letters to him. Chief Justice Nisar expressed dismay at Rao's continuous failure to appear before the bench despite repeated summons and safety guarantees.

During earlier hearings, the court, on the request of Sindh IGP, had directed the intelligence agencies to extend support to the police in tracing out Rao and submit reports on the steps taken for that purpose.

On March 19, the court had warned that anyone found facilitating Rao would be dealt with strictly. The court, however, on Wednesday formed a five-member joint investigation team (JIT) headed by Sindh Police’s Additional IG Aftab Pathan and comprising four senior officers Zulfiqar Larak, Dr Rizwan, Azad Ahmed Khan and Waliullah

The counsel for Rao, however, raised objections, saying he should not be handed over to the Sindh Police as it was against him. He also expressed a lack of faith in the Sindh Police and pleaded to include officials of ISI and Intelligence Bureau.

Chief Justice Nisar dismissed the plea and remarked he knew why the police officer wanted to include the agencies' officials in the probe team. Meanwhile, the court also undertook a sworn statement from Mehsud’s family that they would not take the law into their own hands and harm Anwar directly or indirectly.

Later, the bench directed the police to take Rao into custody outside the court with a ruling that the Sindh Police were not required to take permission from any authority for transferring Rao to Sindh.

The court also directed Sindh IGP AD Khawaja to ensure full protection to the accused. Later, Rao was arrested by the Islamabad Police and transported amid heavy security to the heavily-protected Diplomatic Enclave. He was later handed over to the Sindh Police and transported to Karachi.