The judicial commission formed by the Sindh High Court to investigate the Mir Raza Ali case summoned his friend Abdul Raziq and recorded his statement during its fourth meeting on Monday.
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The commission asked Raziq about his job, his relationship with Mir Raza and what happened before and after Raza went missing.
Raziq told the commission that he works at a software house and that this is his source of income. He said he had earlier worked in sales at the same place where Haitham worked.
He said he and Mir Raza had attended the same school and that he was Raza’s junior.
According to Raziq, Mir Raza picked him up from his office on July 27 and dropped him back at the office about an hour later. He said they had no further contact that day.
Raziq said Raza’s fiancée later contacted him and told him that Raza’s social media accounts had been deleted.
“I told her that he might be at home and asked her to call him,” Raziq said.
He said he then tried calling Raza, but the call did not connect.
Raziq told the commission that he and Raza had eaten together on July 28. During the meal, Raza made an unusual comment.
When asked what Raza had said, Raziq replied that Raza told him, “Maybe this is my last meal today.”
Raziq said he did not know why Raza had made such a statement.
He told the commission that he and Raza were very close friends and that his only aim was to find any evidence that could help locate him.
When asked who suggested searching Raza’s house and car, Raziq said he discussed the matter with Ahmed and suggested carrying out the search with Raza’s mother.
The commission observed that Raziq’s statement suggested that the searches had taken place twice. It also questioned his claim that he was not present when the car was searched.
The commission asked why Raza’s father would give a false statement about the search.
Raziq told the commission that on the night after the third day of the funeral prayers, they took a Monopoly game from Raza’s house with his father’s permission.
Raza’s father, however, told the commission that although he had unlocked the car, he had not given anyone permission to take anything from it.
Raziq told the commission that Haitham had given him the card game, saying Haitham had told him it was given to him by Raza’s father. He added that Raza had purchased the game at his request.
He said he had met Raza’s mother, father and sister only two or three times during his friendship with Raza.
The commission also asked Raziq why he had asked Raza’s sister to open his Apple Watch.
Raziq said they did so because the watch could sometimes provide location information.
He said that, because he uses technology, he asked Raza’s sister whether any message had appeared on the watch.
According to Raziq, she told him that a message had appeared and then opened the watch.
The commission asked how she knew the watch’s passcode.
Raza’s sister said she knew Raza’s password and used it to unlock the watch.
Raziq said they hoped that if the watch had been synced with Raza’s phone, they could have obtained data from email and WhatsApp.
However, he said the phone was not linked to the watch.
Raziq told the commission that he had stopped working in cryptocurrency because he had suffered losses.
Mir Raza, however, continued working in cryptocurrency, he said.
Raziq said Raza had told him about plans to invest another Rs1 million in cryptocurrency, but had not said whether he had already received the money.
He also mentioned a man named Mujtaba who used to advise Raza about currency trading. Raziq said he first met Mujtaba at Ferozabad police station.
According to Raziq, Raza usually discussed his business profits and losses with his friends. He said Raza had not mentioned any business or financial problems even a day before his death.
The commission asked Raziq whether there had been any argument or disagreement between Ahmed and Mir Raza. Raziq replied that he was not aware of any such dispute.
The statement of Raziq was recorded as part of the fourth meeting of the judicial commission investigating the Mir Raza Ali case, as the commission continued examining witnesses and evidence related to the case.
Earlier to this, the commission summoned Haitham for questioning regarding his relationship with Mir Raza and the events surrounding his disappearance.
Last week, the judicial commission investigating the death of Mir Raza also recorded the statement of online taxi driver Ehsanullah, who described his final journey with the deceased.
Before giving his account, the driver told the commission that he had subsequently lost his accommodation and work-related arrangements because of the case and is currently staying at a police station.
