Dawn Images

The Sindh police said on Monday that renowned poet Akash Ansari, who succumbed to intense burn wounds, was murdered and his body was allegedly torched by his adopted son.

Per initial reports, Dr Akash was killed in a fire that had broken out on Saturday morning in his locked room while he was asleep inside his Citizens Colony residence in Hyderabad on Saturday morning.

Circumstantial evidence had earlier made police and the affected family believe that it was an accidental fire. However, when the autopsy exposed marks of injuries all along his almost-charred body, the police began investigating the incident as a suspected murder case.

Dr Akash’s adopted son Latif and his driver, Ashiq, were detained after the funeral of the poet late Saturday evening.

During a press conference today at the senior superintendent’s office, Hyderabad Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP) Dr Farrukh Ali said a case was being lodged on the complaint of the poet’s heirs.

According to the SSP, Ansari’s adopted son confessed to committing the crime, adding that he held a grudge against the poet for his alleged unending derogatory remarks.

The SSP stated that after investigations, spot visits and a postmortem conducted at the Liaquat University Hospital, the medico-legal department of the police concluded that Ansari was murdered.

“I am confident that this will prove to be a murder case at the trial state not only because of the confessional statement but circumstantial and corroboratory evidence,” he said.

The SSP said the deceased’s body had been en route to Badin without a medical examination but he had urged the poet’s family that a postmortem be conducted to which they had agreed. He said that the doctors’ findings helped police personnel with their investigation.

“The doctors told us that there were multiple marks of injuries inflicted through some sharp-edged object,” he said, adding that although the injuries on Ansari’s body were initially considered to have been caused by a false glass ceiling shattering, an examination showed deeper wounds caused by a sharp object. The poet’s thyroid bone was also broken, he said.

SSP Ali said that Ansari’s lung did not show smoke deposition which the fire should have caused, instead, the poet died first and then his body was torched, as confessed by his adopted son.

He stated that the police believed Latif and his driver Ashiq were the first to reach the scene of the crime and therefore were the police’s prime suspects in the case.

“We found out whom Latif met and where he stayed after the murder and then corroborated these points with evidence,” he said and added that the police were still collecting evidence until the morning today.

The SSP said that Latif left the house after committing the crime at 1am and stayed with an acquaintance who was also in custody. “He returned to the house to remove the evidence by torching his father’s body.”

SSP Ali said that Latif was the lone suspect in this case because his driver helped police in separating facts from fiction and corroborating evidence.

“The acquaintance he had stayed with also disclosed that his feet had marks of blood and he had washed them when he arrived to see him,” the SSP said, clarifying that this person was not Latif’s facilitator. He added that the adopted son attributed the injuries to his feet to the incident.

SSP Ali said that the police recovered a bottle containing an inflammable substance as well as the murder weapon which would be tested for the suspect’s DNA, adding that the weapon was recovered from the garbage.

“There are marks of violence on Latif’s face which suggests that some resistance was offered by the late poet,” he said.

When asked why the suspect committed the crime, SSP Ali said that Latif claimed to be “humiliated and disgraced” by the late poet. The SSP said the suspect was using drugs and was allegedly waiting for some time to take this step.

Earlier today, the SSP said multiple people were being interviewed by the police.

Allah Bux, popularly known as Akash Ansari, was asleep in his house located in Citizen Colony on Saturday morning when a fire broke out in his room and family members tried to extinguish the fire. The staff of Rescue 1122 rushed to the house to battle the blaze.

According to Dilbar Halepoto, a Desert Emergency Response Team (DERT) team member of Rescue 1122, when he arrived at the house, he found the room completely filled with smoke. “News of the fire reached us at 8:47am and our team reached there at around 8:55am,” he said. He added that a short circuit was the likely cause of the fire.

After some time trying to extinguish the flames, the team was able to figure out where Akash was lying, he said. Everything in the room, including the sofa set, bed and false ceiling, was destroyed.

“Our team found a heater that was lying very close to the head of Akash Ansari,” he said, adding that Dr Akash’s body was found near the entrance of the room, indicating that he may have attempted to leave the room. Halepoto said the deceased’s family members believed the poet was in the bathroom. “The family members tried to control the fire themselves and were successful to some extent,” he said. Two other people — including Ansari’s son, were also taken to Liaquat University Hospital’s city branch.

The house was sealed by the police for proper investigation. A postmortem of the deceased was conducted by Dr Imran Khawaja at the police’s request.

In an earlier statement, the SSP said the site of the tragedy was visited by police as well as Ansari’s son-in-law who was also a judicial magistrate. He also said that the room was inspected by an electrician to see how it caught fire.

“Akash Ansari was on record having registered an FIR of fraud against his adopted son in 2024 as well,” the SSP said. He said the police were investigating to see if there was any foul play.