In Karachi, Wafflix manager reports negative police reaction in Mir Raza Ali case
In Karachi, Pakistan, Shahriyar, the manager of the Wafflix food establishment, told a judicial commission in the case concerning the murder of entrepreneur Mir Raza Ali that investigators reacted negatively to his statement that the deceased did not use drugs. The commission also heard testimony from a police officer and two investors in Ali’s business, Dawn reports.
The one-member commission is headed by Sindh High Court Justice Omar Sial. During the hearing, he expressed dissatisfaction with the provincial government’s representative and the police because, despite repeated requests, the commission has still not received the complete case file.
Statements by the Wafflix manager
Shahriyar said he had worked at the Wafflix branch in Bahadurabad for two years and reported directly to Mir Raza Ali. According to him, sales at the establishment had been declining in recent months, while employees’ salaries were delayed. The daily revenue, the witness said, fell from approximately 100,000 to 70,000–75,000 Pakistani rupees.
The manager stated that police questioned him twice, and on August 17 a second investigation team seized his phone. He claims that the first investigative team treated him improperly, while an officer identified as SP Qais reacted sharply to his assertion that Ali did not use drugs. Shahriyar also told the commission that police officers did not read back his recorded statement to him, and that some information in it was wrongly attributed to him.
More current news is available on the UA.News Telegram channel Telegram.
According to the manager, at around midnight on July 27, Ali took 29,000 rupees from him and left the branch. The following day, another employee reported that a pistol belonging to a guard had gone missing from the establishment. Shahriyar claims that CCTV footage showed Ali returning after the establishment closed and taking the weapon. At the same time, the manager stated that, to his knowledge, the entrepreneur had never used a weapon and had no disputes with suppliers, creditors, or investors.
Testimony from investors and a call to the father
Ali’s friend Muhammad Hassan Khan Tanoli, who testified via video link from Australia, said that he initially gave him 500,000 rupees, which Ali returned with profit. Later, Tanoli gave Ali 7.5 million rupees to import containers of chocolate and expand the business. According to him, Ali handed over cheques and asked that they not be presented for payment until he had raised the funds.
Another investor, Asad Ali Butt, said he invested 2.5 million rupees in Wafflix, with all transactions conducted through his mother’s account. The lawyer for the deceased’s family, Jibran Nasir, told the commission that Mir Raza Ali’s father received a call from a man who identified himself as an employee of the security service of one of the institutions. According to the lawyer, the caller asked whether the father suspected Ahmed and Abdullah Bhardei, as well as Asif and his brother Abid. Nasir said he had submitted screenshots and a recording of the call to the commission’s registrar.
