Police officials at the City Police Station Umerkot on Tuesday registered an FIR against 20 known and 15 unknown individuals for setting the body of Dr. Shahnawaz on fire in the Nabisar area on September 19. The FIR was filed onn the complaint of Mohammad Ibrahim Kumbhar, Dr. Kumbhar’s brother-in-law, under various sections of the Pakistan Penal Code, including 341, 296, 297, 114, 336B, 147, 148, and 149, as well as sections 5 and 7 of the Anti-Terrorism Act, 1979.
Those named in the FIR include Mehboob Sand, Riaz Ahmed, Amjad, Gamshad, Noor Hassan Panhwar, Daud Panhwar, Lakhmir Samejo, Arshad Samejo, Aleem, Saleem Sand, Ibrahim, Allah Dino Khaklheli, Mashooque, Abdul Ghaffar Rangar, among others. The complainant stated that the accused, incited by Moulvi Ahmed Ali Shahani, forcibly took Dr. Kumbhar's body from his relatives, sprinkled petrol on it, and set it ablaze.
Police officials confirmed they have arrested 11 individuals named in the FIR and are conducting raids in local villages to apprehend the remaining suspects.
Dr. Kumbhar was previously accused of blasphemy on his Facebook account. He was arrested by Umerkot police in Karachi but was later killed in what has been described as a police encounter in the Sindhri area of Mirpurkhas district. In light of the incident, the Sindh government suspended ten police officials, including DIG Javed Sooharo Jiskani and SSP Mirpurkhas Chaudhary Asad, amid allegations of a highly suspicious encounter.