A major development has surfaced in the Mustafa Amir murder case as a special investigation team has been formed to further probe the matter.

The team will be led by DIG CIA Muqaddas Haider and includes SSP Irfan Bahadur and SSP Aneel Haider.

According to a notification issued by Additional IG Karachi Javed Alam Odho, the team also comprises SSP Qais Khan, SP Aleena Rajpar, and SSP Azhar Javed.

Their primary task is to investigate suspect Armaghan and his associates, particularly their involvement in criminal activities, including drug trafficking.

Witness identifies suspects Armaghan and Shiraz

Earlier, police presented two key witnesses in court — both employees of suspect Armaghan —who made significant revelations about the murder case.

On Thursday, the investigating officer took the witnesses to City Court, where suspects Armaghan and Shiraz were also present.

The officer had already submitted an application to record the statements of Armaghan’s employees, Ghulam Mustafa and Zohaib, under Section 164.

During the proceedings, defense lawyers Abid Zaman (representing Armaghan) and Khurram Abbas (representing Shiraz) were present in court.

Witness details night of the murder

While recording his statement, witness Ghulam Mustafa recalled that on January 6, around 9 PM, a thin young man wearing trousers and a jacket arrived at the door. A little over an hour later, they heard shouting, followed by two or three gunshots. Startled, they stepped outside to investigate. Ghulam Mustafa testified that Armaghan saw them through the security camera and called them inside, reassuring them that there was nothing to worry about.

Shortly after, he ordered them to bring a cloth and a plastic bag to clean up blood stains, also mentioning a pair of trousers that had red floral patterns.

The witness further revealed that another man, wearing glasses and a light beard, was present with Armaghan.

The suspect oversaw the cleanup and instructed them to dispose of the blood-stained trousers before ordering them to go back downstairs.

Later that night, around 1am, when Ghulam Mustafa went to lock the door, he noticed that the victim’s car was gone, raising further suspicion.

Shocking revelations in drug case linked to murder probe

During the murder investigation, authorities also interrogated a detained suspect, Sahir Hassan, linked to a drug case.

In his statement to a specialised unit, Hassan denied allegations that drug dealers actively approach students on campuses.

What do we know so far about the Mustafa murder case?

The Mustafa murder case is one of the top stories on news channels nowadays. It is a case of the kidnapping and killing of a 23-year-old Karachi resident.

One has to be careful while reporting such news as the choice of words, style of presentation, and thumbnails on YouTube videos often build opinions even before the court announces its judgement in the case. So, in this case, it is of great importance to gather all the available information with background and listen to all versions of the story to report it.

The following text is sourced from the police investigation and interrogation reports, court decisions, and people related to the Mustafa murder case.

Mustafa Amir, a DHA resident, was allegedly abducted on January 6, but the case made headlines when the Sindh policemen addressed a press conference next month. Six days later, the Balochistan Police recovered a charred body in a torched car and handed over it to the Edhi Foundation.

In a media talk on February 14, police claimed that his friends killed the kidnapped youth. They allegedly stuffed the body in the trunk of his car and torched it in Balochistan’s Dureji area. Police also claimed to have arrested the prime suspect’s friend, Sheraz aka Shavez Bukhari. It was Sheraz who disclosed the information during the investigation.

The prime suspect Armaghan was arrested during a raid bungalow in DHA following a ransom call to the family. Suspects allegedly demanded Rs20 million from the victim’s family. Sources within the police say the gun battle with the suspect continued for four hours.

They took laptops from the house and blood samples were found on a carpet in a room. As the case unfolded, investigators claimed that the conflict between the two started because of a woman. The victim’s mother also accused the same girl of killing her son in a video statement. She claimed that the woman fled to the United States after the incident.

On February 15, an anti-terrorism court in Karachi sent Shiraz to police custody on physical remand till February 21. Police failed to get physical remand of the prime suspect, drawing officials’ ire. A legal expert clarified that the criticism against the court for not granting a physical remand was not appropriate as the police did not seek a physical remand in the first information report related to the case.

He told Aaj News’ programme Dus that the case would come under the jurisdiction of the ATC after the addition of Section 7 of the Anti-Terrorism Act (punishment for acts of terrorism) to the FIR.

On the same day, three police officers were suspended from their duty for their apparent negligence in the case.

The prime suspect was a “habitual offender,” police records showed. Complaints against him alleged that he was involved in extortion, kidnapping, drug dealing, and illegal possession of weapons.

When an Aaj News correspondent visited the suspect’s house, he saw that there was a high-tech facility in the house which was apparently used as a “software house.” Moreover, Kamran Qureshi, the suspect’s father, defended his son’s gun battle with the police and denied accusations. He accused the victim of selling drugs to his son and blamed a “police officer” for the “entire conspiracy.”

On February 17, a judicial magistrate approved a request for the exhumation of Mustafa’s body. Later, a three-member medical panel was formed by the judicial magistrate (West).

The next day, an ATC in Karachi sent the prime suspect to police custody on a four-day remand and sought a medical report.

An interrogation report claimed that the victim and the prime suspect were childhood friends. It was a reiteration of the account Shiraz told to police about the incident.

On February 20, Armaghan allegedly confessed to killing the victim as the chilling details of the report claimed that he offered the victim a “chance to escape before setting him on fire.” The charred vehicle in which Mustafa was allegedly burnt to death was present in Balochistan’s Durerji, Aaj News saw.

When Qureshi appeared on Imran Sultan’s show Dus, he claimed to have substantial evidence and advised to close the case or else “big names” would come to the limelight.

“I want to be the chief investigation officer of my child. I have plenty of evidence. I am a law graduate and hold a firearm licence,” he said while appearing on the show on February 21, 2025.

On February 22, an ATC extended the physical remand of suspects Armaghan and Sheraz by five days. The investigating officer claimed that two blood samples from the suspect’s house were collected and one of the blood samples was linked to a girl identified as ***a. He also informed the court about the money laundering allegations against the suspect

Furthermore, four persons, including a TV actor’s son, were arrested on Saturday. One of the suspects claimed to have sold drugs to Mustafa, according to sources within police.

Sources within the police said initial DNA testing of the samples taken from the body “confirmed that the person burned alive in Balochistan’s Dureji was indeed Mustafa Amir.”

The funeral prayers for the victim were offered at Masjid Ali, Khayaban-e-Mohafiz, DHA Karachi on February 23 as his father refused to take “diyat” (blood money).

Instead, he claimed that college and university students place orders through online mobile apps.

He further explained that dealers first befriend students, gradually introducing them to weed consumption.

Initially, there are only a few buyers within an institution, but within months, the network of weed users expands significantly.

Authorities are now expanding their investigation into both the murder case and its potential links to organised drug trade, with further arrests and developments expected in the coming days.