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Investigators probing the death of Karachi businessman Mir Raza have prepared a list of 10 people who allegedly lent him more than Rs50 million and decided to question them about their financial dealings with him.
According to investigation sources, the list includes people who had given Mir Raza loans, with details of the transactions being compiled as part of the probe.
One of the lenders, identified as Abid, had allegedly lent Mir Raza more than Rs17.5 million, while another person, identified as Muni, had given him Rs500,000, sources said.
Investigators will question all 10 lenders about the nature and purpose of the loans, their financial transactions with Mir Raza and the reasons behind the lending arrangements.
Officials said details of Mir Raza’s financial affairs were being examined as part of the broader investigation. Information obtained from the lenders will be assessed alongside other evidence.
Meanwhile, police have handed all digital evidence related to the case to the National Cyber Crime Investigation Agency (NCCIA) for forensic examination.
Mir Raza’s mobile phone and digital watch were previously sent to the Counter Terrorism Department (CTD) for forensic analysis. The devices have now been retrieved from the CTD and handed over to the NCCIA, investigation sources said.
NCCIA experts will examine the devices and analyse the data recovered from them. Investigators consider the digital evidence potentially significant to determining the circumstances surrounding Mir Raza’s death.
The devices were handed over to investigators in the presence of Mir Raza’s parents, sources said. Police are now awaiting the NCCIA’s forensic findings, which will be incorporated into the wider investigation.
The new investigation team has also decided to seek the assistance of technical experts in analysing evidence collected in the case.
Forensic officials said expert opinions would be sought on both previously collected evidence and material being gathered during the ongoing investigation.
They also said the Integrated Ballistic Identification System (IBIS) was currently out of order, preventing shell casings from being matched through the system.
However, forensic examination has not stopped and experts are using microscopes for analysis. Officials said shell casings could still be matched with a pistol through microscopic examination.
A preliminary medical report prepared after Mir Raza’s exhumation on August 8 found multiple injuries on his body.
The report said the bullet entry wound on the back was smaller than the wound on the front, indicating that the bullet had entered from behind.
It also found fractured ribs, multiple injuries to the head and face, and a roughly 12-centimetre fracture and wound on the right thigh. Blood staining was also found in tissues in the lower part of the body.
The findings differed significantly from the initial post-mortem report. A deep injury and fracture were found in Mir Raza’s jaw, along with injuries to the nasal bone and other parts of his face.
Investigators collected 17 samples during the exhumation. Samples from Mir Raza’s parents were also obtained for DNA matching and will be submitted to the University of Karachi’s forensic laboratory.
Mir Raza was reburied on Aug 8 after the samples were collected.
Mir Raza Ali Khan went missing from the PECHS area of Karachi on July 28. He left home at 4:09am in an online taxi, and his body was found two days later outside a guesthouse in Gulistan-e-Johar.
Police said the body was found in a severely damaged condition and had a gunshot wound to the chest. His social media accounts had also been shut down a day before his body was recovered.
According to his father, Mir Raza was due to marry on August 30 at Baitul Mukarram Mosque in Gulshan-e-Iqbal and had been excited about starting a new chapter in his life.
