ISLAMABAD -   Senior Superintendent of Karachi Police Rao Anwar — who has gone into hiding after an investigation was launched against him for his alleged involvement in the extra-judicial killing of Naqeebullah Mehsud in Karachi — has shifted his family from a posh locality in Islamabad to an unknown location, The Nation has reliably learnt.

The federal government has already put Rao Anwar’s name on the exit control list on the order of the apex court after reports emerged that he attempted to flee the country in a Dubai-bound flight (EK-653) before he was offloaded at the Benazir Bhutto International Airport between the night of Monday and Tuesday.

A three-member committee tasked with probing the killing of Naqeebullah Mehsud in a fake police encounter has already submitted its report to the Sindh Inspector General.

Rao Anwar’s national identity card shows his permanent and temporary address as a resident of House-133, Street-43, F-10/4 Islamabad, which was also verified to The Nation by NADRA officials.

The NADRA officials also confirmed that according to the family tree, Rao Anwar has two wives, Samina and Fouzia and seven children, Alina, Amaar, Arooba, Fatima, Absaar, Amna and Arslan. They said that Awar’s second wife Fouzia along with their three children also have the same address in their CNICs.

The Federal Board of Revenue in its online taxpayer search also shows the same address and Rao Anwar being the holder of the property.

Well-placed sources said that Rao Anwar’s family, which lives in Dubai, off and on visit Islamabad and the suspended police officer visited Dubai 89 times between 2010 and 2017 without obtaining formal leave approval or under ex-Pakistan leave.

They said that Rao Anwar is also considered to be close to former president Asif Ali Zardari, who spends most of his time in Dubai and even chairs party meetings over there. The sources also claimed that Rao Anwar would take direct ‘instructions’ from Zardari on different issues. 

A few days back while talking to The Nation, Rao Anwar had claimed that he had no property in Islamabad but one of his friends, who is living abroad, has purchased a house in his name.  He had said that he visited Dubai several times as his family was living there. He had said that he had shifted his family to Dubai because he had received threats from terrorist groups.

The sources said that Rao Anwar’s family visit Islamabad off and on especially during vacations.

When this correspondent reached the house mentioned in Rao Anwar and his family’s CNICs, nobody was there at the residence except for a watchman, who refused to talk to The Nation. He only said that “he is not aware who the owner of this house is”.