HYDERABAD, July 17: Police killed two criminals in an encounter, termed ‘fake’ by the bereaved families, in the Hali Road police station’s area in Railway American quarters on Tuesday.

The gunman of SP investigation, Talib Lund, also suffered injuries in his thigh but his condition was stated to be stable. DIG police range, Shaukat Shah, confirmed the deaths at a press conference saying that a 17-member police team took part in the encounter.

“It’s a triumph for police,” he said adding that police had to open fire in self defence after the criminals fired on them. The action began at around 10.30 pm following a tip-off and ended at around 4 am, he said.

SP investigations, Khalid Mustafa Korai, said that one of the alleged criminals, Rahim Detho alias Rahim Nando, was involved in 66 major offences including a Rs3 million robbery and murder while the other, Usman alias Deedar Kandhero of Larkana was involved in five criminal cases.

Police claimed the encounter took place in front of a small house behind Al-Shahbaz dispensary in American quarters owned by Ms. Aneesa Begum, who had rented it out to Rahim Detho's sister-in-law. Aneesa's own son was living in the rear portion of the same house.

Residents of the area were tight-lipped about eyewitness account of the encounter and only said that they had heard heavy gunfire. There were no marks of bullets on the walls of home, which was now locked.

“Except that we knew that an aged woman and some men were living there. We don't know anything else,” a resident said.

The ‘encounter’ took place just across railway tracks where Detho’s own house was located in Jani Shah Colony within the jurisdiction of Phulelli police station but neither Hali road police nor TPO of Site were in the know of the likely raid and the encounter in the area.

Preliminary findings of the autopsy revealed that bullets were fired from a distance of more than six feet and they died instantly. But police claimed that Kandhero died during shootout while his accomplices were shifting the injured Detho.

The DIG said that Rahim died of excessive bleeding while being moved to hospital. District police had recommended Rs1.5 million money on Rahim’s head which had never been notified to date.

He said that Qayyum Detho and Papli Detho managed to escape taking advantage of darkness while police arrested Mohammad Fareed Siyal (uncle of Raheem), Wajid and Ahmed Detho (his nephews) and Waheed alias Makku (brother-in-law).

Detho's widow, Shaista, rejected police story saying he had been in custody since June 11 when a heavy contingent of police raided her house in Jani Shah Colony, resulting in the death of Rashid Qureshi.

Detho had approached SHO Azam Mirza and told him that he would surrender if no false cases were registered against him, she said and added that police never admitted that he was arrested.