KARACHI: Sindh Chief Minister Murad Ali Shah on Saturday took notice of the killing of a medical student, who was caught in crossfire between police and robbers in North Karachi a day before, and directed the police authorities to find out as to whose negligence caused the death.

While police claimed that Nimra Baig, 20, was killed by firing carried out by robbers on Friday night, a post-mortem examination carried out at the Jinnah Postgraduate Medical Centre revealed that the bullet that hit her was fired from a “high speed velocity weapon”.

The victim was laid to rest on Saturday.

About the incident, police said a patrol of Shahrah-i-Noor Jehan police saw two armed pillion riders looting passers-by in a North Nazimabad area.

The police challenged them to which the suspects resorted to firing and tried to flee. They were chased by the police patrol and an exchange of gunfire took place near Anda Mor within the remit of the Sir Syed Town police station.

The police claimed that the two suspects suffered bullet wounds and were arrested. Also, the medical student, Nimra, got caught in the crossfire. She was going somewhere from her house in Sector 7-D in North Karachi.

All the wounded were initially taken to the Abbasi Shaheed Hospital where doctors pronounced suspect Riaz, 25, dead. The injured girl was later shifted to the JPMC as she was shot in the head. She died during treatment.

Additional police surgeon Sheeraz Ali Khowaja told Dawn that the post-mortem examination revealed that the bullet had touched the girl’s head and damaged the brain. He opined that the bullet was fired from a “high velocity speed weapon” or a “rifle”.

He said that the victim was a first-year medical student.

Apparently, the high-speed velocity weapon referred to the sub-machine guns being used by police. Pistols commonly used by robbers do not qualify as high-speed velocity weapons.

Family seeks justice

Victim’s uncle Zaki Ahmed told media outside the JPMC early on Saturday morning that “circumstances” suggested that it was police’s firing which caused her death.

Seeking justice for the victim, he demanded an impartial inquiry into the incident.

He regretted that it took doctors several hours to fulfil legal formalities.

Mr Ahmed said that the police did not inform them about the incident. The family came to know the news via TV channels, he added.

When the family heard Nimra’s name, they approached the police and hospital administration to confirm the news.

The family also urged the authorities concerned to take notice of indifferent attitude of the police and hospital administration.

Karachi police chief Dr Amir Ahmed Shaikh took notice of the incident and appointed DIG CIA Arif Hanif as the inquiry officer to ascertain the circumstances which led to the tragedy and fix responsibility.

Other members of the probe body are SSP Noman Siddiqi and SSP Dr Samiullah Soomro.

Published in Dawn, February 24th, 2019