HYDERABAD: Qasimabad police on Saturday registered a case against 17 members of the Soomro community along with 25 to 30 unknown people over allegedly obstructing police in the discharge of their official duty during disturbances a day earlier in Tahir Soomro village of Qasimabad taluka.

The registered the FIR on behalf of the state without waiting for mukhtiarkar Majid Khaskheli’s complaint who was attacked and injured in the mob attack. His brother Wajid Khaskheli was critically injured and a officer, Inspector Inam Junejo, also sustained injuries in the attack.

Majid and Wajid are under treatment in a private hospital in Karachi.

The mob attack on the two brothers in their guest house in the village was followed by the death of a teenage employee, Usman Soomro, whose was found shot dead within the guest house. Usman’s father, Ismail Soomro claimed that his son was killed by Majid.

Counter FIR lodged by injured inspector

A murder case against Majid and Wajid has already been lodged by Ismail Soomro at the Qasimabad police station. He stated that the crime weapon was also present near Usman’s body. The police initially believed it was a suicide case.

Meanwhile, Hyderabad DIG Sharjeel Kharal has formed a committee headed by SP Headquarters Anil Haider to investigate the whole episode. The other members of the committee are DSP Masood Iqbal, Faiz Mohammad Dayo and Qasimabad SHO Ziyad Noonari.

The committee has been directed to submit its report to the DIG within the next two days.

According to the bereaved family, the mukhtiarkar believed Usman was involved in the alleged theft of his peacock and he shot dead the boy in a fit of anger. Majid maintains that Usman might have committed suicide for unknown reasons.

The FIR on behalf of the state was registered on the complaint of Inspector Inam Junejo, the officer in charge of the Nasim Nagar police post vide crime number 250/21 under sections 324, 353, 147, 148, 149, 201, 427 and 342 PPC and 337 H(II), F(II).

The Soomros who have been nominated in the FIR are Mahboob, Sheeraz, Ayaz, Abdul Ghani, Asghar, Ali Nawaz, Mohammad Qasim, Mohammad Yousuf, Ali Mohammad, Mansoor, Azeem, Ali Hassan, Ali Hassan alias Babbar, Juman, Ghulam Rasool, Hameed alias Dechar and Yousuf alias Sheehn.

The complainant has stated in the FIR that when he along with other policemen visited the guest house of Majid Khaskheli upon receiving information about suicide by Usman Soomro, the gardener [of mukhtiarkar Majid Khaskheli], he found the body and a rifle lying there. He said that he took the rifle in custody and a bullet casing empty from the spot.

Inspector Junejo said that while police were waiting for the shifting of the body to a hospital for a post-mortem examination, Usman’s father Ismail Soomro and others carrying lathis and weapons attacked Majid Khaskheli and his brother Wajid Khaskheli. The mob also wasted the fingerprints preserved from the crime scene, he added.

He said that he was also hit with lathis and received injuries. The mob took away the body of Usman while resorting to firing, he said, adding that the protesting people blocked a section of the nearby bypass. He stated that Majid and Wajid were shifted to a hospital for medical treatment. The deceased was finally shifted to a hospital for a post-mortem examination when protesters dispersed, he said.

Published in Dawn, October 17th, 2021