Police surgeon alleges pressure, threats to hide evidence against suicide before Mir Raza judicial commission

Police Surgeon Dr Summaiya Syed Tariq on Monday told a judicial commission investigating the murder of Mir Raza that she had faced threats, surveillance and pressure over her post-mortem findings, alleging that she was asked not to mention that the evidence was inconsistent with suicide in the report. Mir Raza, 25, was allegedly found dead in the bushes near a wedding hall in Gulistan-e-Johar on July 29. The case had initially been surrounded by uncertainty over whether he had been murdered or died by suicide. The court ordered a second post-mortem exam of the victim after the first report failed to determine circumstances surrounding his death. The findings of the second post-mortem consolidated his family’s longstanding claim that he had been murdered. The police probe is under constant scrutiny by the public because of earlier lapses that were even admitted by the Sindh Police chief. While speaking at the hearing of the commission convened to scrutinise probe into the young entrepreneur’s murder case held at the Sindh High Court (SHC) in Karachi, Dr Summaiya said, “Deputy Inspector General (DIG) Crime and Investigation Amir Farooqi asked me to skip the part that postmortem findings were inconsistent with suicide in the report to ensure reprieve during investigation.” She further told the commission that she was stalked for two days and received threats. Dr Summaiya said that the case had “put her career and job at risk” and that her personal information, including her home address and husband's name, had been circulated on social media, and her family was being implicated in crimes. She said she had lodged a complaint with the National Cyber Crime Investigation Agency (NCCIA) against those allegedly involved in a social media smear campaign against her. Dr Summaiya said she had approached DIG Farooqi and Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP) Samiullah Soomro regarding her valid security concerns to no avail. In response, Justice Omar Sial offered her police or rangers security, which the police surgeon declined to accept. Nevertheless, Justice Sial directed the additional law secretary to ensure her safety and asked him to bring the matter to the attention of the Sindh chief minister and interior minister. "This situation is not at all acceptable," the judge stressed. Dr Summaiya also alleged that Central Investigation Agency (CIA) Inspector Muhammad Ali sought the case record from her. Justice Sial summoned the officer to appear before him at the next hearing scheduled for tomorrow. She defended the findings of the medical board constituted in connection with the death. She said the board had been constituted on the basis of the experience and expertise of its members and that the "most competent" specialists had been included in the team. She said 263 photographs had been taken during the second post-mortem. Dr Summaiya further said: “I was verbally told by the Sindh health department deputy secretary to withdraw from the board, but I told him off, pointing that my name was included in the judicial magistrate's order.” She said the composition of the medical board had subsequently been changed, with all members except her being replaced, adding that on the day of the exhumation, Additional IG Azad Khan sent an order from the health services director general allowing members of the previous team to be included in the medical board. “The health secretary later restored the original medical board after the family of the victim objected to the change,” she added. The doctor highlighted that she had recommended exhumation of the body in an August 3 letter after expressing concerns to the SSP East regarding “false negatives emerging during autopsy due to sampling delay”. She said she reiterated her demand for a second post-mortem exam during a meeting with police on August 5. Later, she said, she informed the health secretary and other officials as soon as she received the court order for the commencement of a second post-mortem exam. Justice Sial enquired if the Sindh Medicolegal Act 2023 was in force, to which Dr Summaiya said it was, though its rules were yet to be notified. Advocate Jibran Nasir pointed out that the SHC had directed the authorities in 2024 to notify the rules, but the order was not enforced. The medical board findings A significant portion of the proceedings focused on the presence of an anaesthetic in Mir Raza's corpse. The police surgeon claimed that Dr Usama had misguided the commission about the half-life of the anaesthetic given to the victim and also the time of his death. “He had wrongly claimed that the victim had died 20-22 hours before the first post-mortem exam.” Explaining the impact of local anaesthesia on a person, she said, it could cause loss of sensation and its effects could last between two and nine hours. She highlighted that if a substantial quantity of local anaesthetic was injected directly into the veins in different parts of the body, it would take effect rapidly and prove fatal. “The presence of the said anaesthetic in the heart,” the doctor said, indicated that the substance was injected into the bloodstream. Justice Sial asked the doctor if anaesthesia could have been administered through a spray instead. The doctor ruled out oral administration of the numbing agent citing that traces of the medicine would have been absent in the blood during the post-mortem exam. She stressed that the available evidence established that anaesthesia was present in Raza's body when he was shot, but it could not determine the quantity of it. The commission noted that there had been incidents in the city in which anesthesia had allegedly been sprayed on people's faces, causing them to lose consciousness for a considerable period. It observed that anaesthetic should not be readily available without a prescription and said it would also seek recommendations from the doctor beyond the particular case. Suicide theory debunked The commission questioned Dr Summaiya about the purpose of the exhumation and the medical board's terms of reference. She said the board was tasked to examine the questions raised after the first post-mortem exam. The commission noted that the board’s findings clearly showed that the available evidence was “not consistent with suicide”. Dr Summaiya, in her testimony, said that the board's findings were based on the evidence available to it. "This is a test case for me for which I have put my entire career at stake," she said, adding that she would maintain the same spirit if confronted with a similar case in future. ------------- More to follow