Businessman abducted in 2015 has come home, SHC told

A businessman who spent 32 months in captivity has been released by his unidentified abductors, a police investigation officer told the Sindh High Court on Thursday.

Mirza Mehmood Baig had been picked up by unidentified armed persons from his house in Gulshan-e-Iqbal on April 23, 2015. The family alleged that he had been taken away by law enforcers.

Taking action on a petition, the court had constituted a joint investigation team for ascertaining the whereabouts of the detainee, but they could not find any clue to where he had been. The police investigation officer informed the SHC that the businessman himself appeared before the DSP of Shahra-e-Faisal on December 19, and said he had been kidnapped by unidentified persons, who kept him hostage blindfolded. He said neither he saw any of his captors nor he wanted any further legal proceedings.

The court after taking the report on record disposed of the petition. Baig’s brother, Mirza Saud Baig, was also picked up from outside the Karachi airport on September 25, 2015, when he arrived in the city from the UAE. The petition of his disappearance was also pending before the SHC.

Inquiry ordered

The SHC directed the SSP South to conduct an inquiry into the deaths of four persons who were allegedly picked up by paramilitary Rangers seven years ago and reportedly killed by gangsters associated with the Uzair Baloch group of Lyari.

The directive came after Phullan Khatoon filed a petition against the disappearance of her son, Ghazi Khan, and his three friends – Mohammad Ameen, Sher Afzal Khan and Shahzad Khan — claiming that they had been picked up by Rangers on August 1, 2010.

She named the suspected paramilitary officials as Colonel Suleman, Sher Afsar and Riaz Taman. Khatoon alleged that Afsar even took a bribe of Rs100,000 from her for arranging a meeting with the detainees.

The Rangers and other law-enforcement agencies, however, denied detaining the four. The Rangers informed the court that Inspector Sher Afsar had admitted having received money from the petitioner and, in view of his misconduct, he had been removed from service.

The investigation officer had earlier referred to a confessional statement of Lyari gangster Uzair Baloch in which Baloch had admitted that the four persons had been killed on his instructions due to enmity. He submitted that the graveyard record of Mochko was examined but no evidence was found that the detainees were buried during October 1 to 8, 2010.

The court directed the SSP South to hold an inquiry into the matter and submit a progress report on February 22.