HYDERABAD, April 7: A man was shot dead and two others were injured in a clash between two rival groups over a piece of government land on Saturday night.

Police said that one of the groups was backed by some activists of the Sunni Tehreek (ST) and the other comprised someresidents of Gumnabad.

They were at loggerheads over a plot next to the Nana Baba shrine, the police said.

Reports from the area said that some members of the two groups quarreled over the possession of the plot and beat up each other with clubs and later brought in arms.

Three residents of Gumnabad were injured in the fighting and taken to the Liaquat University Hospital (LUH), Hyderabad. One of them identified as 30-year-old Zahid Arain was pronounced dead on arrival while the other two, Nafees and Ali Raza, were treated for their injuries.

An FIR was lodged at the Baldia police station by the deceased victim’s maternal uncle, Ghulam Abbas, under Sections 302 and 324 of against ST activists Imran, Sajid and Ghulam Hussain and 10 other unknown persons.

Meanwhile, an ST spokesman, Abid Qadri, claimed that his unarmed party colleagues were attacked by “some members of the builder mafia” in order to occupy the plot. He named one of the attackers as Khalil Gujjar, and said he was supported by some residents of Gumnabad.

He further claimed that the custodian of the Nana Baba shrine had sought ST activists’ help in protecting the land.

The spokesman stated that attackers had demolished a wall of the shrine and opened fire on the ST activists sitting in their office inside the shrine.

He said that three ST activists, Naeem Qadri, Ghulam Hussain and Asghar, received cudgel wounds.

He said that an FIR would be lodged against the attackers on Monday after taking up the matter with the Hyderabad SSP.

Hyderabad SSP has suspended Baldia SHO Mohammad Ibrahim Dayo and given the charge to Wahid Bukhsh Leghari.

Soon after the incident, residents of Gumnabad and relatives of the deceased victims staged a protest against ST activistsoutside the Nana Baba shrine. They also brought the victim’s body to a section of the National Highway and blocked the thoroughfare for three-four hours demanding arrest of the ST activists involved in the brawl.