KARACHI, Feb 2: A police officer and a constable were booked and arrested on Saturday for their ‘negligence’ that led to the death of a youngster who had suffered a bullet wound from their gun inside a Korangi mosque on Friday night, officials said.

They said Mohammad Babar, in his mid-20s, was hit by a bullet in the abdomen when he “scuffled and tried to snatch the rifle from one of the policemen”.

The Korangi police were called by the mosque administration to report the suspicious presence of the youngster in the mosque late in the night.

“The Korangi police station received a wireless message from ‘15 helpline’ about the complaint from the Noor Masjid prayer leader and Moazzin that they had found a suspicious young man inside the mosque,” said Qasim Ghori, the area’s deputy superintendent of police.

“A police mobile led by Sub-Inspector Ghulam Shabbir rushed to the mosque and found the young man inside it. The youngster was calm and not violent but he appeared to be suffering from some mental condition. The policemen tried to persuade him to come out but in the meantime he attacked them, thrashed one of the policemen and tried to snatch the rifle from the other.”

In the process, he said, the gun went off and a bullet hit the youngster in the abdomen. However, DSP Ghori said the police party delayed his shifting to hospital, which caused too much blood loss and he died while being treated at the Jinnah Postgraduate Medical Centre.

“Area people later gathered at the scene and expressed their anger against the policemen. After an initial investigation, we formally arrested the two policemen – SI Ghulam Shabbir and Constable Mohammad Aslam – for their negligence,” he said.

“They have been suspended and booked in an FIR (27/2013) under Section 322 (punishment for qatl-bis-sabab) and 34 (common intention) of the Pakistan Penal Code, which was lodged on behalf of the state. The youngster had come here from Hyderabad to see a friend.”

The victim’s family said he had been jobless for the past two years and was under treatment of a psychiatrist, said DSP Ghori. He was putting up at his friend’s and left the home at night without informing him, he added.

Boy killed by bandits A teenage boy was shot dead in the SITE area by bandits when he resisted a mugging attempt inside a moving bus, police said.

They said two gunmen boarded a bus of route 20 near the Habib Bank traffic intersection and held its passengers and driver at gunpoint. While one of them put a pistol to the driver’s head, the other started collecting cash and valuables from the passengers.

“As the bandit moved to 17-year-old Faizan, he offered resistance, prompting the bandit to fire at him,” said an official at the SITE-A police station. “The youngster sustained a bullet wound in the chest and fell unconscious. The bandits then got off the moving bus and ran away. The wounded boy was taken to the Abbasi Shaheed Hospital, where he died.”