No major headway in Maulana Adil Khan’s killing

KARACHI: The police investigators remained clueless about the perpetrators of the high profile targeted killing of a renowned Sunni religious scholar in Karachi one day after the killing.

Police investigators on Sunday obtained a forensic report suggesting that the murder weapon in Maulana Adil’s case had not been used in any previous target killing in Karachi. They obtained the forensic report of empty shells of pistol used in the incident, which suggested the murder weapon in Maulana Adil’s case has not been used in any previous target killing in Karachi. Forensic experts thoroughly examined the spent bullet shells of a 9mm pistol found at the crime scene. The forensic experts also examined Maulana Adil’s vehicle so that any other clue could be found.

Police investigators also visited the Darul Uloom Karachi ahead of the investigation of Maulana Adil’s targeted killing. They also obtained the CCTV footages from Darul Uloom and also recorded the statements. “Maulana Sahib had arrived at Darul Uloom before the Maghrib prayers where he also met with Mufti Taqi Usmani Sahib before leaving the Darul Uloom after the Maghrib prayers at around 7pm,” Darul Uloom’s security guard, Shafiullah told the investigators. “At the gate of the Darul Uloom, the driver slowed down the vehicle and Mufti Adil Sahib put his head down to say Salam to me while he was leaving.”

Besides obtaining the CCTV footages, police investigators have also recorded the statements of witnesses in the case, appealing to eyewitnesses to come forward and record their statements regarding the incident, assuring them that their names will be kept confidential. They said that police have recorded the statements of the people whose shops were adjacent to the crime scene stating that they had separately recorded their statements and it could be helpful in the case. Also, police investigators have conducted geo-fencing of the site where Maulana Adil was shot dead.

Though a case is yet to be registered, the police said that it would be registered under the Terrorism Act on behalf of Maulana Adil’s son who survived in the attack while the CTD officials will investigate the case.

The Counter-Terrorism Department’s in-charge Raja Umar Khattab said that the CTD was investigating the case of Maulana Adil from different angles and nothing could be ruled out.

A meeting of senior officers has been convened under the chairmanship of Additional IGP Karachi in which district police, CTD, and intelligence officers will participate. Police officials said the meeting would decide whether to register the case with the CTD or the police station where the murder was committed. According to the Standard Operating Procedures (SOP)s, only cases pertaining to police killings are registered in the CTD while other cases of targeted killings are registered at police stations. However, the investigation of other target killings are later transferred to the CTD.

Police also said that the five shells found at the scene had been handed over to the CTD, but the final proceedings will begin after contacting the family.

Meanwhile, Maulana Professor Dr Adil Khan, who was killed along with his driver in the incident of targeted attack in Shah Faisal Colony area a day earlier, was laid to rest on Sunday. A large number of people, including religious scholars, politicians and teachers and students of various seminaries, attended the funeral prayers that were led by the deceased scholar's brother Maulana Ubaidullah Khan at the second branch of Jamia Farooqia seminary situated on the Hub River Road.

Prominent religious scholars and leaders, including Maulana Taqi Usmani, Maulana Rafi Usmani, Maulana Hanif Jalandhari, Senator Abdul Ghafoor Haidiri, Maulana Aurangzeb Farooqi, Maulana Manzoor Mengal, Mufti Muhmamad Noman Naeem, Maulana Rashid Soomro, Hafiz Naeemur Rehman, Maulana Wali Khan Almuzaffar, Maulana Qasim Abdullah, attended the funeral. The police and other law enforcement agencies made stringent security measures for the funeral. Besides scholars and other religious figures, a large number of attendees included students and devotees of the late scholar. Maulana Adil was buried next to his father, prominent scholar Maulana Saleemullah Khan, who founded the Jamia Farooqia in Shah Faisal Colony area, and co-founded Sawad Azam Ahle Sunnat, a religious group, in the 1980s.

The scholar was sitting in a Toyota Vigo, with the vehicle parked outside the Shama Shopping Centre when killers on motorcycles came up to him and shot him dead. Three men on a motorcycle were behind the incident, the CCTV footage showed. It further showed that one got off and fired the shots.