Death of senior journalist being probed from ‘all possible angles’: Sanghar police official

The police on Sunday said that they were investigating the death of senior DawnNews TV reporter “from all possible angles,” hours after his body was found in Sindh’s Sanghar district.

The senior journalist was found dead in his car, parked on Hyderabad Road in Sanghar, on Saturday night under what police termed “mysterious circumstances”. The body was found in the driving seat, with a gunshot wound to the head.

Sanghar Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP) Abid Baloch told Dawn.com that police were investigating the death of DawnNewsTV reporter Khawar Husain Bajwa from “all possible angles”.

“The postmortem of the journalist was conducted in Sanghar’s Civil Hospital, and police are awaiting the provisional findings of the process,” he said.

“Apparently, there is a single bullet wound from a 9mm pistol with an exit wound on the left side of the temple”, SSP Baloch said, adding that only one bullet casing was found.

“We are not drawing any conclusion at this point and are looking at this case from all possible angles,” the SSP explained.

According to Sanghar police, Husain’s body had been kept in the cold storage facility at the Red Crescent hospital in Latifabad, as his parents are said to be arriving from the United States early on Monday morning.

“Then the body will be taken to Sanghar, which is the ancestral home of the journalist, for burial,” the SSP said.

Later today, the Sindh Inspector General of Police (IGP) ordered the formation of a fact-finding committee under the supervision of the Sindh Additional IGP (Counter-Terrorism Department) Azad Khan to probe Husain’s death.

According to a copy of the order seen by Dawn.com, the committee will comprise the Additional IGP, Karachi West Zone Deputy IGP Irfan Baloch and SSP Baloch.

“The committee will do [a] preliminary investigation and ascertain facts from all angles. The complete report into the incident may be finalised in two days for the perusal of IGP Sindh,” the order read.

Separately, a request was submitted to the Sindh Home Department for the constitution of a medical board comprising senior doctors and forensic experts to perform a “fair, transparent, and impartial postmortem examination”.

The letter, submitted by Additional IGP (Operations) Zubair Nazir Ahmed Shaikh and seen by Dawn.com, requested the formation of the medical panel so that “the matter may reach its logical and conclusive end in accordance with the principles of justice”.

Meanwhile, Sanghar police obtained a closed-circuit television (CCTV) camera recording of a restaurant, outside of which was the car in which his body was found.

The SSP stated that a guard at the restaurant told police that he arrived at around 7pm for his duties, and Husain arrived in his vehicle 45 minutes to an hour later.

The guard told the police that the journalist had used the restaurant’s toilet and then sat back in the vehicle.

“After some time when he didn’t place any order, the guard, out of curiosity, went towards the vehicle and reported back to the restaurant manager, telling him he noticed something unusual with a man sitting inside,” the SSP said.

“Two waiters arrived to confirm the watchman’s statement and found out that blood was oozing from the right side of his [Husain’s] temple, with a 9mm pistol in his right hand,” SSP Baloch added.

According to the SSP, Husain’s brother-in-law told police that he didn’t inform them about his Saturday arrival, although he asked them to hold an annual religious ritual as per the family’s tradition. Husain neither told friends in Sanghar about his visit nor did he attend the ritual.

“His sister confirmed that he had celebrated Eidul Azha with her on her insistence, after their parents shifted to the US this May,” the SSP said.

Last night, Sindh Chief Minister Murad Ali Shah took notice of the incident and sought a report from the police chief, with instructions that the investigation be handed over to the best police officer.