Weapon used in Zain Effendi’s killing not used in any previous crime, says ballistics report

Police investigators have obtained a ballistics cross-matching report of the weapon used in the killing of Zain Hassan Ali Effendi at his residence a couple of days ago. According to the forensic report, the weapon has no record of having been used in any crime in the past.

A special team has been formed by Additional IGP Karachi Ghulam Nabi Memon to ascertain whether Effendi, a great-grandson of celebrated educationist Hassan Ali Effendi, was killed for offering resistance to a mugging bid or it was a targeted killing.

An FIR has been lodged against hitherto unknown killers on a complaint of the victim’s widow. District East SSP Sajid Sadozai will lead the investigation team, which comprises Jamshed Division SP Farooq Bajarani, Darakhshan SDPO Zahid Hussain, Ferozabad SHO Aurangzaib Khattak, Jamshed Quarters SHO Chaudhry Zahid Hussain and Jamshed Quarters SIO Imtiaz Ahmed.

According to a notification, Additional IGP Memon has directed the team to investigate the murder, arrest the culprits and recover all the valuables that the killers had taken away with them.

Senior officers of the Karachi police, Sindh’s Counter Terrorism Department and intelligence agencies visited Effendi’s house and set up a geofence since one of the culprits had phoned an accomplice.

The police chief visited the victim’s house, where he briefly discussed the case with the family. He told the media later that the police had busted several gangs and arrested criminals in the recent past, and that the police had to do hard work if such an incident occurred.

He said a special team had been formed and all the pieces of evidence collected. When asked if the White Corolla gang was involved or the killing was over a personal enmity, Memon said nothing could be said with certainty until the investigation was completed. However, he added that members of the White Corolla gang had been recently arrested by the police.

Experts from the forensic division of the Sindh police also visited the victim’s house for an inspection and collected evidence. The FIR of the incident, which took place in the wee hours of Wednesday near Peoples Chowrangi, has been registered at the Jamshed Quarters Police Station. Police have included the section pertaining to the killing of a person over offering resistance during a robbery bid in the case.

According to the complainant, four men broke down their bedroom door at 4:20am and started demanding jewellery and gathering valuables. They shot her husband after he resisted the robbery bid.

“I quickly gave them my chain and ring. When my husband resisted, one of the robbers pushed my husband out of the room and shot him,” she said. The robbers also fired three or four more shots and also bound the domestic help with ropes.

The investigators said that according to the statements of the domestic help, the primary motive may not have been robbery: after breaking into the house, the robbers asked for Effendi, and when the help directed them to his room, they quickly went in and shot him dead.

The officials said the robbers had taken Effendi’s licensed pistol and mobile phone as well as his wife’s chain. They suspected that the culprits might have attempted to change the nature of the incident.

“In some cases, the culprits try to change the nature of the incident because they want the case to appear a robbery, so they make off with some valuables to misdirect the police,” said a senior investigator.

The officer said their investigation was in the preliminary stage, so nothing could be said with certainty about the nature of the incident, as it could be a robbery or a targeted killing. Police have obtained the CCTV camera footage from the victim’s house showing the culprits to be of apparently Afghan origin and wearing shalwar kameez and trainers. The footage shows them arriving at the house in a car at 3:25am and leaving after 55 minutes.

On his visit to Effendi’s house, former Citizens-Police Liaison Committee chief Jamil Yousuf told the media that the murder apparently occurred over resisting the robbery bid. He said the robbers first held the servants hostage, then snatched gold jewellery from Effendi’s wife, searched the storeroom and also shot Effendi there. He also said that five robbers were involved in the incident.