KARACHI: In a shocking disclosure, the Karachi police revealed in its report on Tuesday that a young man, who was lynched by an angry mob in Qasba Colony a week ago, was an ‘innocent’ resident of the locality and deliberately framed for robbery by his neighbours due to a personal dispute.

During the incident another man was also declared ‘bandit’ and he was also badly injured by the mob.

The incident sparked violent protest by relatives and residents of the neighbourhood, who staged a forceful protest at his funeral. However, guns were fired by ‘miscreants’ at the funeral in which two people were killed.

The deadly episodes prompted Karachi Additional Inspector General of Police Javed Akhtar Odho to take its notice and constituted an inquiry committee.

Crime Investigation Agency DIG Karim Khan led the committee comprising West SSP (Investigation) Arif Aslam Rao and Central SSP Maroof Usman as its members.

Three men declared muggers by some people to settle personal score, says probe body

The committee exactly after a week completed its job and came up with a chilling revelation.

“The inquiry committee report has been submitted and it revealed that the man lynched by the mob was not a dacoit,” said the city police chief, adding that there had been no incident of robbery at all.

Instead, the city police chief added that three men had gone to a ‘snooker club’ where a scuffle broke out between the victims and suspects over some issue.

The suspects beat them forcing the three men to flee. However, the suspects also resorted to firing and claimed that ‘robbers’ were fleeing, attracting attention of area people.

The people got hold of them, severely beat one young man who died on the spot and injured another one while the third one was saved by the police, said Additional IG Karachi Odho.

He said the suspects were under the influence. They gathered a mob by declaring the men ‘bandits’, who beat them.

The Additional IG said that in the both incidents of lynching and subsequent killings of two persons, “four suspects” had been involved.

The city police chief said they go help of elders of the area and with their help they ‘sorted out’ the issue and prevented the situation from deteriorating further. Things were under control after the intervention of police.

The police chief regretted that these tragic incidents reflected the level of intolerance and mob mentality in society.

Meanwhile, West-SSP (Investigation), Arif Aslam Rao said raids were being conducted to arrest the remaining four suspects involved in both the incidents.

He said three suspects had been arrested over charges of lynching a man and injuring another person, whose case was registered on behalf of the state through a police officer.

Another suspect has been detained over charges of killings two persons and injuring a third one, when miscreants resorted to firing on the people who had been protesting against the lynching by carrying a coffin of the victim in Qasba Colony.

The weapon has also been recovered from the held suspect and spent bullet casings found from the crime scene have been sent to the police’s forensic science laboratory to ascertain as to whether the same weapon had been used in the killing of two protesters.

Lynching FIR against 100 people

Pirabad police have registered an FIR against over 100 people over charges of killing a man and injuring another under Sections 147, 148, 149, 324, 337-A (i) and 302 of the Pakistan Penal Code on complaint of the police officer, Mumtaz Husain.

The complainant said he was patrolling the area on a motorbike along with another policeman when they received information on Madadgar-15 that some ‘miscreants’ were beating two men and were also resorting to firing near Government Boys/Girls Secondary School in Qasba Colony on June 27. When they rushed to the spot, they saw that around 100/150 people were beating two men with concrete and cement blocks.

The police party dispersed the mob and shifted both the injured men to the Abbasi Shaheed Hospital. However, one of them identified as Bilal Khan died while being taken to the hospital.

Another injured person, Nisar Khan, was admitted to the Jinnah Postgraduate Medical Centre.

The complainant said they detained one person, Ihsanullah, among the mob and recovered a pistol from his possession.

Terrorism case over two protesters killing

Separately, the Pirabad police have also registered a terrorism case against unidentified suspects over charges of killing two men and injuring third one, who were carrying the coffin of lynched Bilal Khan and protesting in Qasba Colony on June 27.

The FIR has been registered on complaint of Gul Sher Khan, father of one of the victims under Sections 302, 324 and 34 of the PPC and Section 7 of the Anti-Terrorism Act, 1997.

The complainant said he was a driver by profession and was returning home in Qasba Colony when at 7.15pm on June 27, he saw that the people were protesting by carrying the coffin of one, Bilal Khan, who was his relative.

He said his relative Bilal Khan was beaten and tortured to death by a mob.

The protest ended and they were carrying the coffin of Bilal for burial and when they reached A-area of Qasba Colony near Hafiz Milk shop, suddenly unknown gunmen resorted to firing on them without any provocation.

As a result, a bullet hit on the chest of his son Salman Gul while two other persons namely Noor Zaman and Waqar Afzal were also shot at and wounded.

The wounded men were taken to the ASH where his son Salman and Noor Zaman were pronounced dead on arrival while Waqas was admitted for treatment.

The complainant said unknown suspects had shot dead his son and another person and wounded a third person and created fear and terror among the area residents.

Published in Dawn, July 6th, 2022