ISLAMABAD: A senior minister in Pakistan’s southern Sindh province has asked federal cybercrime authorities to investigate social media accounts linking him and his son to the killing of a 25-year-old Karachi businessman, allegations he says are part of an organized campaign to damage their reputations, according to legal documents seen by Arab News on Monday.
Mir Raza Ali, an Institute of Business Administration graduate who ran a Karachi dessert business, disappeared on July 28 and was found dead the following day in the city’s Gulistan-e-Jauhar neighborhood. Police initially explored whether Ali had died by suicide, but his family disputed that account and pressed for further investigation after raising concerns about the original autopsy and handling of the crime scene.
The case has since become the focus of intense public scrutiny. A second post-mortem conducted after Ali’s body was exhumed found that he had been shot in the upper back and had suffered multiple other injuries, though the medical board has reserved its final opinion on the cause of death pending laboratory reports. Police subsequently added a murder charge to the case, replaced the investigation team and suspended two officers, while the Sindh government has announced that a high court judge will conduct an inquiry into the investigation.
A complaint filed by Sindh Senior Minister Sharjeel Inam Memon with Pakistan’s National Cyber Crime Investigation Agency (NCCIA) asks the federal agency to investigate unidentified people behind social media accounts and pages that Memon says have falsely attempted to associate him and his son with Ali’s death. The NCCIA is Pakistan’s federal agency responsible for investigating cybercrime.
“The continued circulation of this content is causing irreparable harm to the Complainant’s and his son’s reputation, mental peace, and personal safety, and is being done with malicious intent and without any lawful justification,” the complaint said, adding that the people behind the accounts may be using “fictitious identities, bot networks, or proxy handlers” to avoid identification and calls for a forensic investigation to establish who is operating them.
It asks the NCCIA to conduct an analysis of Internet protocol logs, device and SIM registration data and subscriber information from relevant platforms to identify those behind the accounts.
The complaint also asks investigators to “trace the pattern of coordination, funding, and origin of the impugned content to ascertain whether it forms part of an organized campaign,” and identify those involved in creating, directing or amplifying it.
Memon has denied any connection between himself or his son and Ali’s death but the allegations have circulated widely on social media as public interest in the case has intensified.
The minister is a senior leader of the Pakistan Peoples Party, which governs Sindh province, of which Karachi is the capital. His complaint invokes Pakistan’s Prevention of Electronic Crimes Act, including provisions dealing with offenses against a person’s dignity, cyberstalking and the dissemination of false information.
Questions over the police investigation have grown since Ali’s family challenged the initial handling of his death.
The first investigation examined the possibility of suicide, but the family sought a second post-mortem after Karachi Police Surgeon Dr. Summaiya Syed identified shortcomings in the original examination, including the absence of some forensic procedures. A court subsequently ordered Ali’s body exhumed for another autopsy.
The second examination found a firearm entry wound on Ali’s upper back, with the bullet exiting from the front after fracturing ribs, as well as injuries to his head and face. The final cause of death has not yet been determined because the medical board is awaiting chemical, toxicology and gunshot-residue reports.
Sindh authorities have since overhauled the investigation. The provincial government has also announced a judicial inquiry into Ali’s death and the handling of the investigation, with Sindh Home Minister Ziaul Hassan Lanjar saying a serving Sindh High Court judge would be asked to conduct the probe.
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