Three police officers were suspended and demoted for mishandling the kidnapping and murder case of 23-year-old Mustafa Amir in Karachi’s Defence Housing Authority, an official said Sunday.

Amir was abducted from DHA on Jan 6, and his family received a ransom call two weeks later. During the investigation, police arrested a man named Armaghan after a shoot-out, who claimed that the youth was murdered by his friends.

Armaghan was later sent on remand by an anti-terrorism court, while police presented another suspect, Shavez Bukhari, in court, seeking his custody for interrogation.

On Jan 12, police found an unidentified body in a torched car in Hub, which Balochistan police later handed over to the Edhi Foundation for burial. The unclaimed body was buried at the Edhi graveyard in Karachi on Jan 16.

While speaking to Dawn.com today, Deputy Inspector General of Police (South) Syed Asad Raza said that “three officers were suspended after they failed to achieve any breakthrough in the case.”

In a video statement released on social media, the victim’s mother said SSP Investigation Ali Hassan was “guilty of victim blaming and failing to take action for 20 days”.

In response, the DIG acknowledged the video and said that an inquiry would be conducted into the allegations.

According to two orders issued by DIG South, the station house officer Abdul Rasheed Pathan and the station investigation officer Zulfiqar Ahmed of Darakhshan police station were reverted to the substantive rank of assistant sub-inspectors.

Whereas, investigation officer ASI Iftikhar Ahmed from the same station was reverted to head constable, pending inquiry/departmental proceedings into their conduct in connection with the Mustafa Amir kidnapping case.

“They have been shifted to the headquarters in Garden where they shall attend daily roll call/parade,” the order said.

They shall draw pay and allowances as admissible under the rules, it said.

‘Police faced several handicaps’

Speaking to Dawn.com later, Inspector General of Police Sindh Ghulam Nabi Memon said that he did not want to condone the role or conduct of police but the force faced “certain handicaps” due to a host of factors during the initial investigation.

The provincial police chief said, “The victim did not carry a cell phone. Instead, he used a data call.”

He said the police did not have the facility/gadgets to trace the data call.

“The second issue was that the victim was arrested and challenged (arraigned) by the Anti-Narcotic Force (ANF) in the drug case. Thus, initially, the police suspected that he might have been taken away by the agencies, but it was transpired that he was not in their custody.”

Memon further said the family had received the ransom call late.

“When someone goes missing, the police tend to ascertain whether they have been kidnapped for ransom or something else is involved,” he said, adding that after several days, the family received a ransom call, which now appeared to be a deliberate move by the suspects to divert the attention of the investigators.

“After the ransom call, the case was transferred to the Anti-Violent Crime Cell (AVCC) for investigation.

“The AVCC, in collaboration with the Citizens-Police Liaison Committee, initiated efforts to recover the boy safely, but now it has transpired that he was killed on the very first day of his kidnapping.”

The top cop said an issue arose between friends, leading to someone’s death.

“After the murder, both suspects left the city initially for Lahore and later for Skardu.”

He said one of the suspects (Armaghan) returned to Karachi three days before his arrest, while the other returned to Karachi two days before his arrest.

“Whilr trying to arrest Armaghan, the investigators faced another problem as the court concerned did not give his remand to the police for proper investigation. Now, the police have filed a revision before the Sindh High Court to get the remand of the accused.

“Now, our focus is to ensure better investigation of the case to bring the culprits to justice,” vowed the IG, adding that a better team of investigators led by AVCC SSP Aneel Haider, and under the overall supervision of CIA DIG Muquddus Haider, has been formed.

He said the investigators would work under the supervision of the prosecutor general of Sindh for better results.

The IG urged the family of the victim to cooperate with investigators.

Answering a question, he said three officers of South police were suspended and reverted to lower rank over their attitude.

“Their conduct was not professional,” said the IG.