Police confirm body exhumed from Karachi graveyard was Mustafa Amir’s – Pakistan

The body exhumed by a medical board in Mowach Goth on Friday has been identified as that of Mustafa Amir, according to the findings of a lab at Karachi University, CIA Deputy Inspector General of Police (DIG) Muquddus Haider told Dawn.com.

Amir, 23, was kidnapped and allegedly murdered by his friends — Armaghan and Sheraz — in Karachi’s Defence Housing Authority (DHA) on January 6. According to the police, the youth’s friends stuffed his body in the trunk of his car and torched it in the Hub area of Balochistan.

The development comes a day after a charred body, believed to be of Amir, was exhumed yesterday at a Karachi graveyard by a medical board, formed as per a court order.

However, Police Surgeon Dr Summaiya Syed said there was a “slim chance that the exhumation board will be able to form an opi­nion regarding the cause of death” since the body was ext­en­sively burnt.

Talking to Dawn.com, DIG Haider said police received a report from Karachi University’s forensic science lab, which matched DNA samples from the remains with those taken from the victim’s mother and the crime scene at Armaghan’s home in DHA.

The DIG appreciated the performance of the Sindh forensic DNA lab established at the university for providing results in a record time. “Experts at the varsity remained at the facility throughout Friday night and submitted their findings to the police on Saturday,” he said.

Regarding the investigation, DIG Haider said investigators had taken both Armaghan and another suspect, Sheraz, to the spot in Balochistan where the victim’s body was disposed of. “The suspects identified the place from where the torched car and body of the victim were recovered,” he told Dawn.com.

“Armaghan had suspected that Mustafa was ‘interfering in his business’,” Haider added, stating that this appeared to be the main motive behind the murder.

Earlier this month, police arrested Armaghan for injuring cops during an attempt to resist his detention in connection with Amir’s kidnapping case. He was initially sent to jail but was handed into police custody on Tuesday for four days after the Sindh High Court set aside earlier ATC orders which had been challenged.

Another suspect, Sheraz aka Shavez Bukhari, was remanded in police custody by an ATC on February 16.

Suspects’ physical remand extended by 5 days

An anti-terrorism court (ATC) in Karachi extended the physical remand of suspects Armaghan and Sheraz by five days on Saturday in the Mustafa Amir murder case.

Both Armaghan and Sheraz were presented before ATC No.3 today by the police.

Investigation Officer Muhammad Ali requested a 14-day physical remand of both suspects, contending that the statements of Armaghan’s two employees were yet to be recorded.

The IO added that weapons and a laptop allegedly recovered from Armaghan’s house were also to be sent for forensic analysis.

While IO Ali had sought a 14-day remand, the court extended the physical remand of both suspects by five days.

Besides the murder case, first information reports (FIRs) against Armaghan have also been filed over injuring policemen during the February 8 shoot-out and recovery of imported illegal weapons.