Nazim Jokhio murder investigation: PPP lawmaker's security guards make startling revelations

• Nazim Jokhio tortured, killed in attempt to flee, security guards tell police.
• Meanwhile, police investigators recover victim’s cell phone and clothes from well near Jam House.
• Suspects had set well on fire after dumping belongings of victim in it.

KARACHI: Nazim Jokhio was tortured and killed in an attempt to flee Jam House, PPP MPA Jam Awais' guards revealed to investigators in a major development in the hostage-cum-murder case.

PPP MPA Jam Awais is the prime suspect in the murder. His two guards, Munir and Haider, were taken into custody in the first police raid after Nazim Jokhio's brutal murder.

“Jam Awais was intoxicated after Nazim Jokhio was brought to the dera,” a senior police officer said while quoting the confessional statements of the PPP lawmaker’s security guards, as per a report in The News. “Nazim Jokhio was tortured after Jam Awais asked him for an apology and he refused.”

Jam Awais later asked to keep Jokhio at the dera till morning, but Jokhio tried to make a run for it at midnight, the publication reported the guards as saying, adding that Jokhio was captured and tortured and died during it.

Initially, PPP MPA Jam Awais was among five people who had been nominated in the murder case, the investigation officials said, adding that after recording the suspects’ statements under section 164 of the Criminal Procedure Code (CrPc), the names of 11 more people have been included in the case.

At least six suspects, including PPP MPA Jam Awais have been arrested so far, the police officials said, adding that MNA Jam Abdul Karim is among the four suspects who have received pre-arrest bail.

Nazim Jokhio’s phone recovered near PPP lawmaker's farmhouse in Karachi

In another development a day earlier, the police recovered the victim's mobile phone and clothes from a well near Jam House, a farmhouse belonging to PPP MPA Jam Awais in Karachi's Malir.

The investigation officials recovered Nazim Jokhio’s mobile phone and clothes from the well after identification by the arrested suspects. The police officials said that the suspects set the well on fire after dumping the belongings of the victim in it.

Most of the phone had burnt in the fire, the police officials said, adding that the things would be sent to the Punjab Forensic Laboratory.

The police are expecting a major breakthrough in the investigation after receiving the report from the forensic laboratory.

The murder

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.