CTD official DSP Ali Raza assassinated in Karachi: police
Deputy Superintendent of Police (DSP) CTD Investigation Ali Raza, and a security guard were assassinated in Karimabad on Sunday night, police and hospital officials said.
CTD’s senior official Raja Umer Khattab told Dawn.com that DSP Raza, a senior official of the CTD, was martyred in an assassination attempt by unknown suspects at Shakeel Corporation, Karimabad, Block 1.
A security guard, who belonged to a private security company, was also injured in the firing and later succumbed to wounds during treatment at the Jinnah Post Graduate Medical Centre (JPMC), Khattab said.
Khattab said that the martyred officer had worked extensively against members of banned outfits such as Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), sectarian groups and sub-nationalist groups as well.
He recalled that slain officer Raza had also remained a close aide of the then Superintendent of Police (SP) Crime Investigation Department (CID), Chaudhary Aslam Khan, who was killed in a suicide attack in the metropolis in the recent past.
He said DSP Raza used to visit Karimabad as it was his neighbourhood where his friends resided.
While he was leaving in his bullet proof vehicle, two suspects on a motorcycle arrived and opened indiscriminate firing before fleeing, he said.
Khattab said Raza suffered critical injuries and was transported to Abbasi Shaheed Hospital (ASH) where doctors pronounced him dead on arrival.
Police surgeon Dr Summaiya Syed told Dawn.com that the DSP had suffered “multiple gunshot injuries to chest, neck and head.”
A bullet was recovered, however, the complete post-mortem examination was not allowed by his family.
The police surgeon said the guard Waqar, 38, had suffered serious gunshot injuries to the chest, flank and inguinal region. He was in a “critical” condition and was moved to JPMC from ASH where he died during treatment.
Meanwhile, CTD Deputy Inspector General (DIG) Asif Ejaz Shaikh told the media that armed pillion riders fired 11 bullets.
The slain DSP coffin was taken to Imambargah in Ancholi after a post-mortem examination was carried out at the ASH.
Meanwhile, Chief Minister (CM) Sindh Syed Murad Ali Shah expressed his sorrow and anger over the attack.
According to the spokesperson, he paid tribute to the slain officer and expressed his condolences to his family.
The CM directed IGP Sindh to conduct an inquiry into the incident and submit a report to him.
Sindh Home Minister Ziaul Hassan Lanjar, in a conversation with Dawn.com, also expressed his grief over the martyrdom of DSP.
IGP Sindh told Dawn.com that the DSP had spent his career in CTD, working against not only the TTP and sectarian groups but Lyari gang-war and MQM-London activists as well.
He said the officer had worked on different high profile cases, adding that it would be premature to blame any group at his time or to assume that the assassination was connected with the arrival of Muharramul Haram.