Kidnapping charge added to Nazim Jokhio's murder case: police

• Kidnapping section added to police report; brother pushes for terrorism clause to be added.
• After the initial nomination of three suspects, 11 more people nominated for the murder.
• Prime suspect Jam Owais' older brother, MNA Jam Abdul Karim, also nominated.

A kidnapping section has been added to the police report in a case pertaining to the murder last week of Nazim Jokhio — who purportedly filmed a PPP lawmaker's guests hunting houbara bustards in Thatta — the Sindh police said on Tuesday.

The police said that besides three suspects who have been arrested, an additional 11 people have been nominated in the case. They added that the prime suspect PPP MPA Jam Owais' older brother, MNA Jam Abdul Karim, is also among those to have been nominated.

Furthermore, video footage from the time of Nazim's murder, which went missing from the Jam House, has been recovered, said police.

The police said that following the murder, the footage was removed from the site and was traced after the suspects arrested in the case were questioned.

The footage has now been sent for a forensic examination of its contents. It will help ascertain which individuals were directly involved in the crime, said police.

The three suspects so far arrested are PPP MPA Jam Owais, Haider, and Meher Ali, all of whom have been handed over by a court on physical remand to the police.

Officials from the investigation team said that a probe, using data retrieved from the mobile phones of the arrested suspects, has also begun.

According to the officials, Nazim's video statement will be used as primary evidence in the probe.

They said that the investigation team surveyed the site of the incident with Nazim's brother, Afzal Jokhio.

They said that a citizen, at around 2pm on November 3, alerted the police on the 15 police helpline after discovering Nazim's body.

Push for terrorism clause to be included

Meanwhile, the Judicial Magistrate Malir, holding a hearing on the case today, told the investigation officer to also examine whether the incident merits the inclusion of a terrorism clause and to examine it from all possible angles. The investigation officer briefed the court on the process and criteria involving the inclusion of a terrorism clause.

He was asked to submit a progress report at the next hearing.

The prosecution counsel, for his part, submitted an application on behalf of petitioner Afzal Jokhio, pointing out the faults within the police probe conducted thus far. The court asked the investigating officer to submit a response to the petition.

According to the petition, the investigation team did not obtain the CCTV footage from the site of the incident. It also said that the clothing of the deceased was not secured as evidence and neither was his mobile phone data.

The petitioner requested Nazim's mobile phone data be put through a forensic examination immediately.

He also asked that a terrorism charge be included by the police and that Jam Owais be charged for aiding and abetting the murder.

The incident

A few days back, Nazim Jhokio had stopped a car near his village in Thatta that bore a foreign number plate and asked the people sitting inside the vehicle why they blocked the road and what they were doing there. A verbal brawl ensued. Nazim was given death threats and they tried to snatch his mobile. He somehow managed to escape from the scene at the time.

According to his brother, Afzal, Nazim had broadcast a live stream on social media of a hunting expedition involving foreign guests of PPP MPA Jam Owais.

Later, the PPP MPA called him to his house, where he was brutally tortured, Nazim's family claim.

The police recovered Nazim's body from Memon Goth in Malir on November 3.