KARACHI: A day after the killing of the director of a private engineering institution in a street-crime incident on main Stadium Road, Karachi police on Saturday claimed to have arrested three suspects for the murder.

On Friday evening, Prof Dr Zahir Ali Syed, 70, the director of the Usman Institute of Technology, was shot dead when he tried to speed away after armed robbers intercepted his car on Stadium Road near Khatoon-i-Pakistan College.

The news of the killing of the senior academic had sparked public outrage on social media with people from all walks of life condemning the murder as well as the performance of the police in maintaining law and order.

On Saturday, SP Gulshan Maroof Usman said that acting on a tip-off the police arrested three suspects.

During initial grilling, the suspects disclosed their involvement in 22 robberies in the metropolis.

He said that one of the suspects, identified as Zakir, was the facilitator of other two suspects as he gave a pistol to them on rent and shared half of the amount of the looted goods. He was arrested in the past and spent time in prison, he added.

Police say the suspects are involved in 22 other street crime incidents in the metropolis

The SP said that two other suspects, identified as Rustam Pathan and Ibrahim Bengali, were drug addicts, who resorted to firing during the attempted robbery.

He said that Pathan fired at the professor’s car while Bengali was waiting for him on a motorcycle.

They also ‘confessed’ to have looted three persons, including a woman, before the murder of the educationist.

The suspects recorded their statement before investigators stating that they opened fire on the car since the driver did not stop.

Meanwhile, DIG East Saqib Ismail Memon said initially a suspect was arrested in an intelligence-based action and he led the police to the remaining two suspected killers.

The weapon used in the murder had been sent to the police’s forensic science laboratory and a source said that the lab report confirmed that the same weapon was used in the murder of the professor.

Police sources said that the killing of the senior academic once again underlined the importance of initiating concerted efforts against drug dens/peddlers and rehabilitation of addicts.

Policeman martyred in encounter; suspect killed

Police on Saturday night claimed to have killed a suspect said to be responsible for the killing of a police constable in an encounter that took place earlier in the evening on Superhighway.

Sachal SHO Abdul Rasool Siyal said that acting on a tip-off police carried out a raid in Madina Colony where an exchange of fire took place in which an unidentified suspect was killed. A pistol was recovered from him.

He said that the deceased was the same suspect who a few hours before killed Constable Shabbir Ahmed, 51, on the Superhighway near Bundoo Khan Restaurant in an encounter and escaped.

The martyred policeman originally hailed from New Jatoi in Naushahro Feroze and he would be laid to rest there.

Minor boy assaulted in Bin Qasim

A minor boy was allegedly sexually assaulted in the outskirts of the city on Saturday.

Bin Qasim SHO Imran Afridi said that the four-year-old boy was molested allegedly by his young neighbour, who was said to be a drug addict.

The child was in critical condition and taken to a hospital for treatment, added the officer.

The police said an FIR was lodged against the nominated suspect.

The victim’s father told the police that he had two wives who had left him and the child was living with him. He said as he was heading for work he left his son at the house of his neighbour, who allegedly subjected him to a criminal assault before fleeing.

The officer said that they were waiting for the doctors’ report about the medical examination of the boy.

Published in Dawn, June 13th, 2021