Mir Raza case: Bullet shell recovered from crime scene fails to match security guard’s pistol

• Markings on shell differed from those in guard’s pistol: officials.
• Jibran Nasir questions timing and handling of evidence in case.
• Police claimed shell’s recovery eight days after incident: Nasir.

KARACHI: A bullet shell recovered from the crime scene in the Mir Raza case did not match the security guard’s pistol, investigators said on Wednesday.

Officials said the markings on the crime-scene shell differed from those found on test shells fired from the security guard’s pistol.

Raza, an IBA graduate and businessman, was found dead in Karachi’s Gulistan-e-Jauhar a day after he went missing on July 28.

The final postmortem report conclusively ruled out suicide, confirming that the young businessman died as a result of a gunshot wound. Raza’s father has consistently maintained that his son was murdered and has rejected suggestions that the death was a case of suicide.

A video — reportedly recorded hours before his death — showed Raza in his kitchen, where he appeared to take a pistol from a drawer, check it, and later place it in his car before leaving.

The footage suggested he may have headed towards his home afterwards. However, another CCTV recording showed him walking alone on foot a short distance from the scene of the incident.

Meanwhile, Jibran Nasir, counsel for the deceased businessman’s family, questioned the timing and handling of the evidence, saying police had claimed to recover the shell from the crime scene eight days after the incident.

According to Nasir, the shell recovered from the crime scene did not match the shell obtained from the security guard’s pistol. He further alleged that police had received the relevant report two days after the incident but withheld its details.

Officials said that forensic examination of Raza’s smartwatch had also failed to uncover evidence related to the case.

A day earlier, the judicial commission — constituted by the Sindh government in the case — ordered the issuance of a notice to Home Minister Zia-ul-Hassan Lanjar.

The directive came after the commission questioned several police officers over the handling of the investigation and issued a notice to the investigation team head, DIG Amir Farooqi, over the alleged withholding of records.