Probe finds two friends killed by mob on suspicion of being robbers were innocent

Police on Friday arrested three suspects for the recent lynching of two ‘innocent persons’ in the Orangi Town area after they were painted as robbers. Two alleged robbers were brutally tortured and killed by citizens in Orangi Town Sector 14-C within the limits of the Pakistan Bazaar police station on May 7. Police managed to take another alleged robber into custody in an injured state.

Police also found a motorcycle in their possession and registered an FIR No 23/159 against 150 unidentified persons under the sections 147, 149, 324 and 302 of the Pakistan Penal Code.

The case was later transferred to the investigation wing of the police station. As the investigation continued, facts began to emerge and the two alleged robbers who were brutally killed turned out to be innocent. Police said those who were killed by the mob had been identified as Babar and Nazeer and the one arrested in an injured state as Owais, alias Sunny.

Police investigations revealed that all the three victims were friends and worked together at a factory in the SITE area. On May 7, the three friends were returning home on two motorcycles after attending a wedding ceremony when some youths in a neighborhood in Orangi Town Sector 14-C became suspicious of them because two days ago, a youth named Ishtiaq Naveed had been killed in the area during a mugging bid.

The youths chased the three friends, and stopped and searched them, the police said, adding that at the same time, a crowd gathered at the scene, mistook the three for robbers and started assaulting them.

As a result, two friends died on the spot and the third was arrested with injuries. No weapons or stolen goods were found in the possession of the three friends, nor did any criminal record of them came to light.

The deceased Babar was the father of five children. Since his killing, his wife has been in a severe mental shock. The other deceased, Nazeer, was unmarried. A video of the mob justice had also gone viral on social media, with the help of which police arrested three suspects identified as Farrukh, alias Amir, son of Nazir Ali, Javed, son of Azeemullah, and Shahid, son of Ismail. Police said they were looking for other suspects involved in killing the innocent persons.