ISLAMABAD: The final postmortem report of Karachi entrepreneur Mir Raza Alisaid on Monday that its findings are “inconsistent” with suicide as the manner of death, laying to rest speculation that he had taken his own life.

Ali, a 25-year-old owner of Karachi-based dessert outlet Wafflix, disappeared on July 28 and was found dead the following day in the city’s Gulistan-e-Jauhar. Police initially treated the death as a suicide, as per his family and their lawyer. However, Ali’s family disputed the account and raised concerns about the autopsy and handling of the crime scene. 

After Karachi Police Surgeon Dr. Summaiya Syed identified over a dozen deficiencies in the initial post-mortem examination, a second one was carried out days later. It found a gunshot wound on Ali’s upper back, along with other injuries, prompting further questions over the circumstances of his death.

A copy of the final postmortem report states that the Exhumation Board is of the unanimous opinion that Ali’s death was caused due to cardiac rupture that resulted due to a firearm injury. The report added that the entry wound was found on the posterior thorax (back of the chest) while the exit wound was the anterior thorax (frontal chest). 

“The findings are inconsistent with suicide as the manner of the death,” the report concluded. 

The report was issued after a meeting of the Exhumation Board convened on Monday by Dr. Syed. Members of the board are Prof. Dr. Naseem Ahmed of Dow Medical College; Dr. Farah Waseem of Jinnah Sindh Medical University; Additional Police Surgeon Dr. Sirichand; Aamir Hasan Khan of the Citizens Police Liaison Committee; Dr. Muhammad Yaseen from the administrative office of the police surgeon; and Jinnah Postgraduate Medical Center’s Medico-Legal Officers Dr. Daniyal Mirza and Dr. Kamran Khan.

The document shared the findings of reports received from the Industrial Analytical Center of the Husein Ebrahim Jamal Research Institute of Chemistry about the examination of several articles of evidence found in the case.

It said a Gas-Chromatography-Mass Spectrometry (GC-MS) test was carried out for four articles while a Scanning Electron Microscopy with Energy-Dispersive X-ray Spectroscopy (SEM-EDS) test was conducted for the fifth article, a shirt.

The shirt’s examination found a “perforation” on the back, approximately 6.99mm in diameter, and a “corresponding larger defect” of approximately 35.37mm in diameter on the front.

The report said traces of acid were also detected on the shirt, which were identified by the analytical center as hydrochloric acid (HCl), while barium and lead were also detected around the defects — in higher relative concentration around the back defect than the front one.

Traces of bupivacaine — an “amide-type local anesthetic” were also found present in Ali’s blood. However, no traces of sedative, psychotropic, narcotic, or poisonous substances were found from the swabs taken from the victim’s body. 

Jibran Nasir, a prominent rights activist and the family’s lawyer, has accused police of mishandling Ali’s case and distorting facts. His family has insisted that Ali was murdered and has called for an impartial inquiry into the case. 

The Sindh government denies Nasir’s allegations and has formed a new investigation team earlier this month to examine the circumstances surrounding Ali’s death after the second post-mortem.

The Sindh High Court last week appointed Justice Omar Sial to head a judicial commission examining whether authorities mishandled Ali’s case. 

Ali’s death has sparked protests in Karachi, with demonstrators demanding that the provincial government establish what happened to him and bring those responsible to justice.

The case has also intensified public scrutiny of police handling of serious crimes in Karachi, where concerns over street crime and law enforcement remain widespread.