KARACHI: Police authorities on Thursday ordered an inquiry to ascertain the veracity of claims of the Korangi Industrial Area police that gunned down a ‘dacoit’ in an ‘encounter’ on Wednesday.

The inquiry was ordered by DIG-East Saqib Ismail Memon after relatives carrying the coffin of Shahzad Chandio staged a sit-in outside the Karachi Press Club late on Wednesday night, claiming that he was a factory worker and not a dacoit.

Landhi SP Shah Nawaz Chachar has been appointed inquiry officer.

Mr Chachar told Dawn that he would check possible record of the deceased to see if he had remained involved in any criminal activity. The officer said that the family of the deceased had not approached the police so far as they had taken the coffin to their native place in Larkana for burial and informed the police that they would approach them after performing his last rites.

Man murdered by brother-in-law in Manghopir

The police on Wednesday claimed to have killed the ‘suspect’ in an alleged encounter in Mehran Town and found a TT pistol and a motorbike in his custody, which was ‘stolen’ in the city.

Late on Wednesday night, the relatives carrying his coffin protested outside the KPC, which continued into Thursday morning. They ended the protest after assurances from the authorities that an inquiry would be ordered into the encounter.

The relatives claimed that Shahzad was not a dacoit but a garment factory worker at Chamra Chowrangi. He had come from his native place in Larkana to Karachi around eight months ago for work. He was living with his cousin in Mehran Town. The family said that he was riding a motorbike with his friend and was returning home in Mehran Town late on Tuesday night when the police intercepted them. They said it was a new motorbike purchased on instalments and they did not have its papers.

The police asked Shahzad’s friend to bring the papers from home but when he returned, he saw that there was the bike only and Shahzad was missing. Later on, news was aired on TV channels that a suspect was killed in the ‘encounter’ in Mehran Town who was subsequently identified as Shahzad. The relatives claimed that it was a ‘fake’ encounter and demanded action against the policemen involved in it.

Additional police surgeon of the Jinnah Postgraduate Medical Centre Dr Summaiya Syed said the Korangi Industrial Area police had brought the body of an unknown man in his early 20s for autopsy, claiming that he was killed during an ‘encounter’.

A post-mortem examination showed that he had suffered seven bullet wounds on different parts of his body. The bullets were fired from a distance.

Man killed

A 30-year-old man was killed in the Manghopir area on Thursday.

Police said Raza Mohammed was killed by his brother-in-law, Faqir Gul Mohammed, over a personal dispute in Gulshan-i-Tauheed.

Area SHO Amin Khoso said that the suspect was arrested. He had killed the victim with a concrete block. He told the police that he murdered him as the deceased had allegedly subjected his sister to “undesirable attitude”.

Fire in Defence

A fire erupted in a multistorey building in Defence’s Jami Commercial area on Thursday.

Gizri police SHO Agha Mashooq said that the blaze took place due to a short circuit.

The officer said that no casualty was reported in the incident.

Published in Dawn, August 27th, 2021