SHIKARPUR: Nazroo Narejo — said to be the most dreaded dacoit in Sindh — finally fell to the bullets of police during an encounter in the kutcha area near Garhi Yasin on Saturday morning after surviving countless such attempts made by law enforcement agencies since the mid-1980s.

The encounter also left two policemen and two associates of Narejo dead. The SHO of the Dilawar Marfani police station, a constable and several dacoits were wounded in the gun battle that took place in the Golo Dari area, Sukkur SSP Tanveer Ahmed Tunio told a press conference while briefing the media in his office about what he described as a breakthrough in the police operation against dacoits’ gangs.

He said that a strong contingent of police led by himself acting upon a tip-off about the presence of some dacoits in the area carried out a raid on a suspicious hideout in Golo Daro in Shikarpur district. The raid was responded with a heavy gunfire that left constables Haji Mujeeb Chachar and Haji Ashme Chachar dead. SHO Hidaytullah Abbassi and head constable Mewal Chachar received bullet wounds.

The volley of fire from dacoits triggered a fierce gun battle that lasted a couple of hours, he said, adding that when the guns fell silent, three dacoits were found dead in the battleground. They were later identified as Nazar Mohammed aka Nazroo Narejo — the dacoit most wanted by the Sindh police — Sarwar aka Saroo Narejo and Rabnawaz aka Raban Narejo.

Sukkur DIG Kamran Fazal and SSP Tunio were also present at the press conference held in the Garhi Yasin police station.

The SSP said over 200 cases of heinous crime, including dacoity, highway robbery, kidnapping for ransom, murder and attacks on police were registered against Nazro Narejo and his associates at various police stations in Shikarpur, Larkana, Naushahro Feroze and Sukkur districts. His associates included Saroo Narejo and Raban Narejo, he said.

He said the Sindh government announced a head-money on Nazroo Narejo that was gradually increased to Rs20 million, the highest ever offered by it on a dacoit.

Saroo Narejo also carried a head-money of Rs1 million, he added.

DIG Fazal told the media that Home Minister Suhail Anwar Siyal was given a briefing on the breakthrough in the anti-dacoits operation in Upper Sindh.

According to him, Inspector General Ghulam Hyder Jamali has announced Rs10 million compensation/reward for the two slain policemen and government jobs for their children.

Meanwhile, the bodies of deceased dacoits were kept at the Shikarpur District Headquarters Hospital after a post-mortem examination was performed there. The bodies of the slain policemen were sent to their native town in Ghotki district.

The wounded SHO Hidaytullah Abbasi and policeman Mewal Chachar were admitted to the the Pannu Aqil military hospital for treatment.

‘King of Sindh dacoits’

LARKANA: Nazroo Narejo had become a symbol of terror after surviving a number of operations carried out by police and paramilitary troops in different areas of upper Sindh over the past three decades. He took the reins of his gang from his father, Rab Rakhio aka Rabbu Narejo, when the latter was killed in 1976.

Nazroo Narejo was born in Bhai Khan Ji Wandh, a village named after his grandfather, within the jurisdiction of Ripri police station in Khairpur Mir’s. He was an unlettered man who passed his life in the kutcha area and thick woods along both banks of the Indus and Ketti Kharal. But his father, Rabbu Narejo, according to sources in Naudero, possessed a Masters (sociology) degree he had obtained from the University of Sindh in the 1970s.

He (Nazroo) had two wives, two daughters and seven sons.

Rabbu Narejo had a dispute with the famous Sindhi short story writer, Naseem Kharl, over 900 acres in the kutcha area. The enmity touched the heights when he was nominated as the prime suspect in the murder of Mr Kharl in 1973. In 1976, Rabbu Narejo was also killed. Nazroo Narejo took over the dacoits gang.

Three years ago, his son, Iqbal Narejo, was gunned down in a police encounter which had broken him though he had a track record of gunning down many people.

He fell ill in the wake of his son’s death and reportedly suffered from hepatitis and later kidney failure. Currently, he was practically invalid and restricted himself to harbouring criminals and bargaining ransom. He had already sold out his 900 acres in 2011 and was now residing in Nazroo’s Ketty. Before taking over his father’s gang. Nazroo Narejo had joined the gangs of Dhani Bukhsh and Lakho Narejo. He shot to fame in the crime world when his gangsters started committing heinous crimes in Larkana, Khairpur, Shikarpur, Ghotki and other districts Nazroo was until today known as the ‘King of dacoits in Sindh’.

Our Sukkur correspondent adds: Chief Minister Sindh Syed Qaim Ali Shah has appreciated the Sindh police for achieving the breakthrough and expressed his grief over the death of two policemen in the operation. He also prayed for the early recovery of the wounded policemen.

Leaders of PML-N and PML-Q also congratulated the police for their outstanding performance.

Published in Dawn, July 12th, 2015

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