KARACHI, Aug 28: A 26-year-old man committed suicide on Thursday by shooting himself in the head with a shotgun at his flat in North Karachi, police and witnesses said.

The Sir Syed Town police said Mohammed Wasif, son of Mohammed Azhar, used the licensed gun of his late father to kill himself.

They said the man was living with his widowed mother, a private school teacher, and his younger sister at Super Fine Arcade in Sector 11-E.

SHO Inspector Ali Anver Shah told Dawn that the victim was a heroin addict and he had quarrelled with his mother and sister the previous night. “His mother and sister left the house after the quarrel and stayed the night at his maternal uncle’s house,” he added.

Inspector Shah said that the victim’s maternal uncle, Dr Agha Farid Khan, told the police that the victim had asked his mother for money that he needed to buy the drug.

He said the victim’s father had died seven years ago and his mother was the sole bread-winner of the three-member family.

The SHO said neighbours told him that the drug addict used to quarrel with his mother and sister frequently.

He said the victim’s mother and sister returned to the flat at around 11am to find Wasif shot dead.

The SHO said the victim’s mother contacted her brother, who informed the police control about the incident.

He said the victim had become jobless a couple of years ago after he became hooked to the drug. The body was shifted to the Abbasi Shaheed hospital and later it was handed over to the victim’s uncle after medico-legal proceedings.

The police said the family originally hailed from Badin and they had taken the body to their hometown.

The man was believed to have had placed the back of the gun on the ground and pulled the trigger, blowing his head and also disfiguring his face.

One killed, four injured

An unknown man was killed and four others injured when a fast-moving truck went out of the driver’s control and ran over the pedestrians near Nala Stop at Sector 11-F in New Karachi.

The New Karachi Industrial Area police arrested and booked the driver, Mohammed Fayyaz, son of Ghulam Farid, and impounded his Mazda truck (JY-1800).

The body and the injured were shifted to the Abbasi Shaheed Hospital where the deceased remained unidentified and the injured were identified as Irfan, 22, Zeashan, 24, Syed Irfan, 30, and Basharat, 15.

Hospital sources said the injured people were discharged after treatment as they had sustained slight injuries.

Burnt to death

A 60-year-old man was burnt to death near Ayesha Manzil.

Jauharabad police said the victim, Wazir Ali, was a watchman of a rickshaw parking and he was sleeping on a nearby pushcart when he was burnt.

They said the pushcart caught fire, probably by a cigarette, and the man received fatal burns as he was sleeping on the plastic sheets spread on the pushcart.

The police said the victim belonged to Ismaili community and lived at nearby Javed Plaza.

They said the victim was rushed to the Civil Hospital’s burns ward where he later died.

The police said the elderly man died accidentally.

Minor drowned

A three-year-old boy was killed after he fell into a drain in Gulberg.

The body was shifted to the Abbasi Shaheed Hospital where the victim was identified as Mohammed Siraj, son of Mohammed Khalil.

The police said the minor boy was playing near a drain and he slipped into it a little after noon.

They said the victim was a resident of Maulana Kauser Niazi Colony and his father was a labourer.