Deceased poet Dr Akash Ansari’s adopted son, driver arrested after funeral: police

The adopted son of late poet Dr Akash Ansari and his driver have been arrested from Badin for interrogation following the funeral, police said on Sunday.

Superintendent of Police Masood Iqbal, leading the investigation under Hyderabad Senior Superintendent of Police Dr Farrukh Ali’s directive, told Dawn.com that “Latif Akash and driver Ashiq were detained for questioning in connection with Dr Akash’s death.”

“They were being interrogated accordingly,” SP Masood Iqbal said.

The postmortem report of Dr Akash has not yet been issued. The autopsy was conducted by Medico-Legal Officer (MLO) Dr Abdul Hameed Mughal under the supervision of his senior, Dr Imran Khawaja. The report was likely to be issued on Monday.

However, Dr Mughal confirmed multiple wounds that were deep, “all over the deceased’s body”.

He said that the final opinion would be disclosed in the report to be issued after consultation with police surgeon, Dr Wasim Khan.

“Injuries or sharp cuts are found all over the body, both superficial and deep,” he said, adding that an X-ray examination had been conducted to assess the nature of bone fractures, and a report from the radiology department was awaited.

Earlier reports had said that Ansari died after suffering 100 per cent burns as a result of a fire that broke out in his room on Saturday morning. He was 69.

According to Hyderabad police’s earlier statement, “His son Latif tried in vain to put out the flames before Rescue 1122 staff arrived and managed to extinguish the fire.”

Dilbar Halepoto, a member of rescue team, had said that his team was informed about the fire at 8.47 am and reached the poet’s house at 8.55am. The cause of fire was most likely to be a short circuit, he had said.

Ansari had lately been using his poetry to condemn the extrajudicial killing of Dr Shahnawaz Kunbhar. He read out his poetry at a recent gathering organised by the Sindhi Association of North America at Sindh Museum.