Dr Shahnawaz murder case: MO Civil Hospital arrested

MIRPURKHAS: The Federal Investigative Agency (FIA) has arrested a Medical Officer (MO) of Civil Hospital in the Dr Shahnawaz Kanbhar murder case.

Dr Shahnawaz was killed in a fake police encounter on September 19, 2024 for alleged blasphemous posts on social media. His body was also later set on fire by a mob.

The MO, who conducted the postmortem of Dr. Shahnawaz, was taken into custody, for preparing a false autopsy report and presented before the Anti-terrorism court (ATC).

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The first post-mortem report prepared by the MO did not mention any signs of torture on Dr Shahnawaz’s body.

However, after a local court ordered the exhumation of the body, following recommendations from the Hyderabad police surgeon and the Director General of Health to investigate claims of torture, custodial death, a staged encounter, and the burning of the body, it was revealed that Dr. Shahnawaz had indeed been tortured.

The court approved a two-day judicial remand of MO and sent him to jail.

Earlier, the court had released all nine suspects arrested in the Dr Shahnawaz murder case on bail.

Under Pakistan’s blasphemy laws, anyone found guilty of insulting Islam or Islamic religious figures can be sentenced to death.

Pakistan has witnessed a surge in attacks on blasphemy suspects in recent years.