CCTV, digital evidence lead to arrests in Dr Akash robbery-murder case: DIG South

KARACHI: DIG South Asad Raza said on Wednesday said that police have arrested three suspects in the murder of Dr Akash Kumar during a robbery near Clifton’s Teen Talwar, after tracing the accused through CCTV footage and digital evidence.

Addressing a press conference, Raza informed that the investigation was launched as a high-priority case after the Sindh inspector general took notice of the incident and constituted multiple investigation teams. He said police identified the suspects within 24 hours and arrested three of the four accused within 36 hours of the robbery.

According to Raza, investigators used CCTV footage, technical evidence and digital data to trace the suspects. “It was through CCTV footage that we reached the accused,” he said, adding that the crime scene was located about 1.5 kilometres from the French Consulate. Police first identified the suspects from the Boat Basin bank where the victim’s family had withdrawn the cash, while digital records showed all three accused had remained in contact with one another throughout the operation.

Raza said an alleged informant stationed at the bank kept watch on the family and alerted his accomplices after the cash withdrawal, which took around 20 minutes. The suspects then followed the family’s vehicle before attempting to snatch the money. “This was purely a cash robbery,” he said, adding that the attackers opened fire when the family resisted, fatally wounding Dr Akash Kumar.

He said four suspects were involved in the crime and confirmed that one alleged shooter and an accomplice had been arrested, while raids were continuing to apprehend the remaining two. Raza added that the alleged shooter had 10 criminal cases registered against him at various police stations and said further arrests were expected to reveal more details about the case.

Separately, the DIG CIA Muqaddas Haider said police had solved 85 percent of robbery-cum-murder cases reported this year, describing the killing of Dr Akash as the first such incident in Karachi’s South district in 2026. He said the robbery occurred within the jurisdiction of Frere police station, while the arrests were made in the Defence police station limits. The arrested suspects also belong to the Hindu community, are originally from rural Sindh and had been living in Quaidabad, he added.