Police team formed to investigate Sharjeel Memon’s alcohol possession in hospital

• FIR declares on-duty police officer at hospital innocent, blames man arrested from PPP leader’s room for alcohol possession

KARACHI: A three-member investigation team was constituted on Sunday to launch a probe into the discovery of “liquor bottles” from the room of ailing former Sindh information minister and Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) leader Sharjeel Inam Memon in a Karachi hospital on Saturday.

The two bottles were found when Chief Justice Justice (CJP) Saqib Nisar paid a surprise visit to the hospital in Karachi’s Clifton vicinity. Drugs and cigarettes were also found in Memon’s room which was declared a sub-jail.

Additional Inspector General (IG) Karachi Dr Amir Shaikh has nominated DIG South Javaid Alam Odho as the head of a probe committee, says a notification issued today. Senior superintendent of police (SSP) Investigation South Abdullah Jan and SSP Investigation East Shabir Memon are also part of the team.

FIR clears Memon and officers on duty

According to the FIR [First Information Report] that cleared the accused, Memon and police officers on duty at the hospital have been declared as innocent.

Charges were, however, levelled against Shakar Din, Muhammad Jam, and Muhammad Mushtaq. The three men were sent to jail on a 14-day judicial remand.

Furthermore, the case has been registered under the name of the officer on duty at the time of the incident, Assistant Superintendent (AS) Mujahid Khan.

A day earlier, the imprisoned PPP Member of Provincial Assembly (MPA) Memon, who was at Karachi’s Ziauddin Hospital on the pretext of illness, had been found in possession of “liquor bottles and drugs” after Chief Justice of Pakistan (CJP) Mian Saqib Nisar paid a surprise visit to the hospital he was being treated in.

“When Sharjeel Memon was asked about the liquor, he said they were not his,” Justice Nisar had said, relating his surprise early-morning visit before hearing cases at the Supreme Court’s (SC) Karachi registry.

Memon, who had been in judicial custody at the Ziauddin Hospital’s Shirin Jinnah branch, where his room had been declared a sub-jail, was sent back to jail soon after the incident.

Two people, including Memon’s driver, had subsequently been taken into custody in connection with the presence of liquor at the hospital.

Jan Mohammad, who was one of the two men taken into custody, had told reporters while being taken away that the bottles spotted by the CJP did not contain liquor.

“One of the bottles had honey while the other contained cooking oil,” he had claimed.

An FIR was registered against Memon and two others in Karachi’s Boat Basin Police Station under the anti-narcotics act.

After the notice by the CJP, the Sindh chief secretary and Prisons Deputy Inspector General (DIG) Aftab Pathan had reportedly reached the hospital in an effort to recover the “evidence”.

Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP) South Omar Shahid Hamid had said they had collected blood samples from Memon and that “there will be an inquiry” and “action will be taken against those found responsible”.

The confiscated bottles will be sent to a lab for testing,” the SSP had added.

SSP Shahid had also said, “If a facility is declared a sub-jail then its responsibility lies with the police, however, an inquiry will also be conducted against the hospital’s administration.”

Earlier on Friday, the SC Karachi Registry had rejected Memon’s bail plea in an anti-corruption reference filed at the National Accountability Bureau (NAB).

During the hearing, the court had asked the whereabouts of Memon from the prosecutor on which it was informed that he is going through treatment in a hospital from May, which has been declared as a sub-jail.

NAB prosecutor had informed the court that according to the report of a private hospital, Sharjeel is not suffering from any serious disease, however, was suggested to go for physiotherapy.

The court had rejected PPP leader Sharjeel Memon’s plea after hearing the arguments.

Memon, who had returned to Pakistan in March last year after ending his near two-year-long self-imposed exile, had been arrested on his arrival by NAB in a Rs5.6 billion graft case.

He had later obtained bail.