Exhumation of Mir Raza Ali's body postponed after family objects to abrupt reconstitution of medico-legal board

Karachi: The exhumation of 25-year-old businessman Mir Raza Ali's body was postponed on Friday due to his family's objections to the sudden reformation of the medico-legal board. Ali's remains were discovered in bushes in Karachi's Gulistan-i-Jauhar following his disappearance on July 28; his family alleges he was kidnapped, tortured, and murdered.

Despite his family's insistence on this version of events, investigators are exploring the possibility that he took his own life. The family was present at the cemetery adjacent to Tariq Road's Rehmania Masjid for the exhumation on Friday, but it was postponed when counsel for Ali's family, Jibran Nasir, informed the media that the family refused to accept the reconstituted board "under any circumstances."

Nasir accused authorities of attempting to hide the truth and held the police, health ministry, and Sindh government accountable for the delay. He pointed out that the backdated notification for the board's reformation was issued by the Hyderabad health director general around 10 am on Friday. Nasir alleged that the authorities now planned to add more members to the board, but the four initially chosen should remain part of it.

The lawyer also stated that they had not been informed about why the original board was reconstituted and that now the Hyderabad health director general had the authority to form the medico-legal board, a power previously held by the Sindh health secretary. The Sindh Medicolegal Act 2023 grants only a police surgeon complete authority in such matters, according to Nasir.

He vowed to challenge the fresh notification in the appropriate forum. Ali's father directly questioned Sindh Chief Minister Murad Ali Shah and PPP Chairman Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari, reiterating their trust in the original eight-member board. Nasir accused the police of selectively presenting CCTV evidence and demanded that all facts be revealed.

He questioned why CCTV footage showed a motorcycle and a trash picker passing by the body but not the moment when Ali walked up to the location if he had committed suicide. Nasir accused police of not letting Ali's father view the complete CCTV footage. The lawyer concluded by stating that they would try to have the originally nominated doctors perform the examination, hoping that the facts being concealed would be exposed.