KARACHI: A vigilante mob lync­hed two innocent men, who were employed with a cellular company, and torched their vehicle over suspicions of being kidnappers in Machhar Colony on Friday, officials said.

In a late-night development, pol­i­ce took into custody two suspects allegedly involved in the lynching and claimed that raids were conducted for the arrest of eight more suspects who had been identified with the help of videos and witnesses.

Keamari SSP Fida Husain Janw­ari told Dawn that two employees of a cellular firm were going to a desolated part of Machhar Colony in their vehicle to examine and fix the antenna of a mobile phone tower. As they were passing through the area some miscreants started a rumour that they were ‘kidnappers’ and roaming around with intention to kidnap children.

He said around 500-600 people gath­ered there, got hold of the two workers and started beating them with stones and other hard and blunt weapons. They also set their vehicle on fire.

Police arrest two for inciting people to lynch the innocent men in Machhar Colony

The SSP said that a police team was already in the area for providing security to health workers busy in the ongoing anti-polio drive. The law-enforcers rushed to the scene as soon as they got the information. They fired into the air in a bid to disperse the charged mob. However, they cou­ld not save the two employees, who suffered critical injuries and died.

Police Surgeon Summaiya Syed said that the Docks police brought the bodies of the two men, identified as Muhammad Ishaq, 31, and Muhammad Aiman, 28, to the Dr Ruth Pfau Civil Hospital Karachi.

She said that a post-mortem examination carried out at the health facility found that both the men suffered extensive injuries and their skulls were fractured at multiple sites.

Hospital sources said that the victims originally hailed from Tando Allahyar and Thatta districts.

The SSP said that the police would register a case against the mob.

DIG-South Irfan Ali Baloch took notice of the lynching incident and directed the Keamari SSP to personally conduct an inquiry into it, said a police statement.

It said that the victims were empl­oyees of a mobile network company.

Docks SHO Parvez Ali Solangi said that the mob also torched the company’s vehicle bearing number plate ALB-946.

Quoting witnesses’ statement, he said that the two workers had gone to check the frequency of the mobile tower’s antenna in a desolated place near the TCF School.

In the evening, the Keamari SSP told Dawn that total 10 suspects had been identified with the help of footage of mobile phones and statements of witnesses as those instrumental in the lynching incidents.

He said two of them had been tak­en into custody and raids were conducted to arrest the remaining suspects.

Published in Dawn, October 29th, 2022