The investigation into the death of young businessman Mir Raza Ali took a new turn on Friday after his family rejected the newly reconstituted medical board, postponing the planned exhumation of his body for a second post-mortem.
Initial medical findings revealed that Ali had sustained a gunshot wound to the chest, while the preliminary post-mortem estimated the body to be 24 to 36 hours old at the time of examination.
Addressing reporters, the family’s lawyer, Jibran Nasir, said the exhumation scheduled for Friday had been postponed after authorities issued a third notification regarding the medical board.
According to Nasir, the latest notification merged the first and second medical boards into a new panel, but the victim’s family refused to accept its composition. He confirmed that Ali’s parents had already recorded their statements before the investigating officer.
The lawyer asked why members of the original eight-member medical board had been removed. He said the repeated changes through successive notifications had raised serious concerns for the family.
Nasir said the judicial magistrate had been informed that the family continued to trust the doctors included in the original board and would not accept the newly constituted panel.
He further said that the repeated changes were delaying the exhumation process, claiming that while those behind the move had failed to achieve their objective completely, they had succeeded in slowing down the investigation.
Raising concerns over the evidence, Nasir questioned the handling of CCTV footage, alleging that only selective clips were being presented. He said footage showed a man collecting garbage and a motorcycle passing through the area where Ali’s body was found, arguing that everyone seen near the scene should be investigated.
The lawyer also questioned the direction of the investigation, maintaining that even if a message attributed to Ali was considered authentic, it contained no indication that he intended to take his own life.
Family rejects revised medical board
A day earlier, a judicial magistrate had approved a petition filed by Ali’s father seeking exhumation of the body for a fresh post-mortem after expressing reservations over the preliminary report.
Police Surgeon Dr Sumaiyya Syed subsequently confirmed the formation of a medical board under the court’s orders, with the exhumation initially scheduled for 9am on Friday.
However, Nasir said the family objected to the process after provincial authorities allegedly replaced the medical board overnight.
In an emergency notice sent to the police surgeon and the Sindh health secretary, Nasir challenged the late-night reconstitution of the board, arguing that it violated the court’s directives.
He stated that following the magistrate’s order, the Karachi police surgeon had constituted an eight-member board comprising forensic and pathology experts. Nasir further argued that only the relevant divisional police surgeon had the legal authority to form a medical board for exhumation proceedings.
The notice alleged that the director general of health in Hyderabad replaced the entire panel on the night of August 6, describing the move as contrary to the court’s orders and an unlawful interference in the police surgeon’s authority.
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