Record shows 10 show-cause notices issued to killer cop in four years

It was August 27, 2021, when Constable Syed Farzand Ali, who was then posted at the North Nazimabad police station, was issued with a show cause notice. “SHO North Nazimabad vide his letter No. 1294 dated 30-07-2021, has reported that you are continuously absent from government duty since 12-07-2021, without any intimation or prior permission,” read the notice.

It was the last show-cause notice of a total 10 such notices issued to him from 2018 till 2021. However, after each notice, he was somehow cleared in the inquiry and continued his police service till he allegedly committed suicide after seeing a police party coming to arrest him for murdering newly-married Shahrukh Saleem near Kashmir Road while he was attempting to rob the youth’s mother and sister.

The News found 10 show-cause notices issued to him during just four years of his 12-year police service. Seven of those notices accused him of being continuously absent without informing. Two notices were about charges of misconduct and one about inefficiency.

Interestingly, all of the 10 notices were issued during his posting in the Zone West of the Karachi police. These show-cause notices were issued by the West Zone DIG, District West SSP, District Central SSP and Headquarters SP.

Ali was also arrested twice. However, none of the arrests and show-cause notices resulted in his dismissal from the police service. He only got minor punishment after four of the show-cause notices. Five of the notices were disposed of with no punishment. An inquiry was under way into the allegations of one such notice.

With no major punishment given to him, he continued to commit criminal activities in daytime as he usually performed police duty in the night shift.

“No one can make objection if someone gets a clean chit after the inquiry. But despite receiving 10 show-cause notices in just four years, him continuing to serve in the police department raises several questions and those who did not award him major punishment should be questioned,” says a senior police officer privy to the matter.

One of the show-cause notices also pertained to a case registered against him under the Section 7 of the Anti-Terrorism Act. The case was registered on May 21, 2018 at the Supermarket police station on the complaint of Syed Tabish Ejaz, son of Ejaz Hussain. After the case was lodged, a show-cause notice was issued to Ali by then West Zone DIG for misconduct on May 26, 2018.

The service record of Ali shows that he was always reinstated after suspension. The record also shows the names of senior police officers who reinstated him. He was reinstated twice in 2019. Once, the SP headquarters West conducted an inquiry and Ali was reinstated by the signature of then West DIG Amin Yousufzai.

The tainted cop was also suspended on January 2020 for stealing gold and cash from a house and demanding Rs100,000 in extortion after the robbery. The killing of the newly-wed Saleem was the last crime of Ali who was clearly identified in CCTV footage of the incident. He was involved in at least nine criminal cases in the past, including robbery, street crime and drug peddling.

Police claim Ali committed suicide to evade capture by shooting himself in the head on Monday night when a police team arrived to arrest him. However, other accounts suggest that his death was as shady as his life had been. These accounts indicate that Ali was already in police custody when he died.