Pakistani's spy agency in fresh probe over journalist's murder

Pakistani TV journalist Arshad Sharif. [File, Standard]

A high-level team of investigators from Pakistan's main spy agency and the country's elite police units is expected in Kenya later this week to investigate afresh the killing of a renowned Pakistani journalist in Nairobi.

Prominent Pakistani TV journalist Arshad Sharif, who had fled Pakistan citing threats to his life, was shot dead by police officers manning a temporary roadblock along Magadi Road, in Kajiado County in October last year.

Kenyan Police said at the time it was a case of mistaken identity and that police hunting car thieves opened fire on his vehicle as it drove through the roadblock without stopping.

As part of the fresh probe, the special joint investigations team from Pakistan will visit the Magadi Road area crime scene to help with the new probe. They will also interrogate the cops involved in the shooting and meet the medical-legal officer who conducted Mr Sharif's autopsy, The Standard has learned.

The elite sleuths will also question Kenya's Independent Policing Oversight Authority (IPOA) personnel over the murder according to local Pakistani media.

The special team of investigators comprises Islamabad Deputy Inspector General Police Headquarters Awais Ahmed and Pakistani Federal Investigation Agency's Cyber Crime Deputy Inspector General Waqaruddin Syed.

Other members of the high-level team include representatives from the Pakistani Inter-Services Intelligence.

Members of the Intelligence Bureau, Pakistan's main civilian security agency and investigation officers from the local Pakistan capital police will join them. Pakistan officials said Kenya has agreed to assist the special probe team in its investigation.

A separate team set up by the Pakistani government to probe the murder said it found contradictions in the version given by Kenya.