Maha Ali death case: Suspects escape arrest by fleeing from court

KARACHI: The two suspects in the Dr Maha Ali death case on Monday fled from the court in their bid to escape arrest after interim bail pleas were rejected,

Junaid and Waqas, the two men who have been booked in the case, can be seen in a video running out of the court, the former wearing handcuffs as he ran.

Before he fled from the court in a rickshaw, Junaid alleged that the investigation officer had taken Rs100,000 from the two suspects to influence the case in their favour.

Meanwhile, Dr Maha’s father had accused the suspects of getting his daughter “addicted to drugs”, adding that the two will be able to flee the country similar to the way they had managed to escape from the court premises.

Originally from Mirpurkhas, Dr Maha had rented a house in the Defence Housing Authority’s Phase IV area and moved there along with her father and sisters.

She was working at a private hospital in the city’s upscale Clifton area.

In August, she was shifted to the Jinnah Postgraduate Medical Centre where she succumbed to her wounds after being admitted after suffering a critical injury.

The city police has declared Dr Maha’s death a suicide, claiming that she had allegedly shot herself.

Prime suspects influenced probe

The doctor’s father has claimed that two of the three prime suspects influenced the probe into his daughter’s death.

Addressing a press conference, Syed Asif Ali Shah said Junaid and Waqas worked with doctors to have the medico-legal officer (MLO) changed when her daughter’s body was sent to the hospital.

“Why did my daughter commit suicide? It was being claimed that Dr Maha was upset with her parents,” he said, adding that he worked hard to ensure his daughter got a good education.

The first to reach the hospital was Waqas, who identified himself as a technician. Then Junaid arrived,” Dr Maha’s father added. “Waqas and Junaid, in collaboration with the doctors, had the MLO replaced.”

Fighting ‘legal battle alone’

The grieving father said Dr Maha’s family was in shock and “not in the right state of mind” due to her death. “We had gone to the village afterwards, he had said.

Claiming that his daughter was being blackmailed, he said: “My daughter is gone now but people should save their daughters from men like Junaid.

“He treated my daughter horribly,” he said, referring to Junaid, adding that the man physically abused her as well. “My daughter shared what happened with her to her friends.

“I will fight this legal battle alone,” he added.

Initially, the police said that the young female doctor practicing at a private hospital in Clifton had allegedly committed suicide by shooting herself at her home in Defence on Aug 18.

Later, the police booked her friends — including Junaid Khan, Waqas Hasan, Dr Irfan Qureshi along with two others — under relevant sections of the law.

When the matter came up before the judicial magistrate (South), the IO produced detained suspect Dr Irfan Qureshi to seek his physical remand.

The IO informed that two other suspects Waqas Hasan and Junaid Khan were still absconding and requested for time to complete the investigation since the fleeing suspects were yet to be tracked down.

The defence counsel for Dr Qureshi moved an application asking the court to discharge the applicant from the case on the ground of lack of evidence.

The counsel contended that the applicant was a dentist by profession and respectable citizen.

He claimed that the applicant was arrested with mala fide intentions of the station house officer. He contended that no evidence came on record that the deceased had been given any poison.

He added that on the day of the incident, the deceased came to the clinic of Dr Qureshi and after waiting for four hours she left without meeting the applicant/accused. In this regard, the conversation of the applicant and the deceased on WhatsApp was available on the record, he added.

The counsel said it was also admitted that the inquest report produced by the investigating officer and the death/medical certificate was silent regarding any kind of poisoning.

The counsel argued that the applicant had not committed any offence.

He asked the court to discharge the suspect in the present case and release him.