Police constable, informer held over teenage boy’s death

A policeman and his informer have been arrested in the case of a 14-year-old boy’s death during an alleged encounter with drug peddlers in Orangi Town.

Rehan, son of Fida Hussain Shah, a student of grade VI, was shot dead by the firing of policemen in Quaid-e-Awam Colony on Sunday. According to the official version, the cops were there to arrest drug peddlers.

Orangi Town SP Abid Ali Baloch told The News that Police Constable Majid and his informer Tahir, alias Dabbu, were arrested on the complaint of the boy’s father. FIR No 483/17 under Section 302/34 of the Pakistan Penal Code was registered on the complaint of Fida Hussain Shah against PC Majid and his informer Tahir.

In his statement to the police, Shah said Rehan and other children of the colony had stepped out of their houses to witness the exchange of heated words between Tahir and a group of locals.

The father added that after hearing gunshots, Rehan’s brother went out to check on Rehan but soon came running back to inform the family that he had been injured. Shah said he took his injured son to the Abbasi Shaheed Hospital for treatment, but the doctors at the emergency centre of the health facility told him that Rehan had died on the way.

SP Baloch said a Mominabad police team reached Quaid-e-Awam Colony after someone informed the police helpline about the presence of drug peddlers in the locality. He added that unidentified men had opened fire in the area when the police tried to arrest the drug peddlers they had been looking for.

The officer said Mominabad SHO Mumtaz Marwat had told him that the police retaliated to the gunfire of the suspects and a 14-year-old boy sustained injuries during the exchange of fire. He added that the hospital’s medico-legal examiner said in his report that the boy had suffered a bullet to his left arm that exited his body after piercing through his heart.

Later, West DIGP Zulfiqar Larik suspended SHO Marwat over his failure to handle the situation during the raid in his presence. Larik has formed an enquiry committee to be headed by District Central SSP Irfan Baloch and ordered exemplary departmental and legal action against all the men responsible.  

Raid or date?

A police officer on the enquiry team told The News that Majid’s informer Tahir had gone to Quaid-e-Awam Colony to meet his girlfriend, but the locals caught him and put an end to his date.

The officer said Tahir called Majid to rescue him, but the PC advised him to call the police helpline, adding that Tahir told the helpline that he was caught by the locals and needed the police to free him.

The cop said Majid called the Mominabad police station and left for the colony when a duty officer confirmed that a police party was despatched to arrest some suspects.

SP Baloch said the police had collected two casings of a 9mm pistol and an empty of a 30-bore weapon from the site of the firing, and sent them to the forensic laboratory for examination.

He added that PC Majid, who was nominated in the FIR, was suspended two months ago for violating discipline and was currently posted at the West Range headquarters.  

Laid to rest

Rehan’s funeral prayer was offered at the Shahi Masjid in Quaid-e-Awam Colony on Monday and he was later buried at the Qari Graveyard.

Home Minister Suhail Siyal has appointed Karachi police chief Addl IGP Mushtaq Mahar as the inquiry officer and directed him to conduct a detailed investigation into the case.