A man was killed, while his friend and two suspected robbers were injured during what police claimed to be an ‘encounter’ on Sharea Faisal in the early hours of Saturday – the same day SSP Rao Anwar was suspended for the extrajudicial killing of Naqeebullah Mehsud in an earlier alleged encounter.
According to Sharea Faisal police station SHO Ali Hassan, for the past few months, police had been on the lookout for a group driving a white Corolla and involved in robbing people coming to the city from the Karachi airport while pretending to be policemen.
Speaking to reporters on Saturday, Hassan said that in the early morning, officials spotted three men dressed as policemen riding in a white Corolla near the COD Flyover. He added that when police signalled them to stop, the suspects sped away which prompted officials to open fire at the car to burst its tyres.
The SHO further claimed that the suspects abandoned the car near PAF Museum and tried to get away in a rickshaw but the police kept firing at them.
“When police reached them to arrest them, they saw four men lying injured both inside and outside the rickshaw,” Hassan said. He added they took them to the Jinnah Postgraduate Medical Centre (JPMC) where one of them died during treatment. The SHO further said that the police also detained a passenger, who was travelling in the rickshaw, and he told them that two of the four injured men were the driver and his friend, who were later identified as Abdur Rauf and Muhammad Maqsood, who later died in the hospital.
Victim statement
In a video statement released by police, the passenger – who is the key witness, looks unhurt and whose name police didn’t disclose – said that on Friday night, he had told the driver, Rauf, to come pick up him early. As per the instructions, the driver arrived at 6am and they left for the airport five minutes later. The witness further said that Rauf picked up his friend, Maqsood, from a neighbouring street and when he questioned as to why Rauf had a second person with him, he replied that since CNG supply was suspended that day, the friend would help him convert the vehicle to petrol when the gas ran out.
He said they first drove to a fuel station to fill petrol and soon after they left, they saw two men wearing the khakhi police pants and civilian t-shirts standing on the roadside signalling for vehicles to stop saying that they needed a lift to take their injured father to a hospital.
The witness further said that when the men failed to get a response from other motorists, they stepped in front of his rickshaw, which made Rauf slow down, but he was suspicious of the men’s motive so he decided against helping them and accelerated, upon which the men opened fire at the three-wheeler and it toppled over.
He added that he heard another round of firing. When it stopped, he stepped out of the toppled vehicle and saw policemen and four injured men, including Rauf and Maqsood, around him.
Moreover, a statement issued by DIGP East Sultan Ali Khowaja later, stated that Sharae Faisal police tried to intercept a car bearing registration number BDP-211. However, the passengers sped away which caused police to shoot at the tyres.
He added the suspects left the car and tried to escape in a rickshaw but police kept chasing them and eventually caught up with them, and arrested the suspects identified as Ali and Babar while their companion Afreen managed to flee.
DIGP Khowaja said that a fake walkie-talkie, police uniforms, a fake number plate, a pistol and an SMG rifle were recovered from the car.
Meanwhile, JPMC Acting Additional Police Surgeon Dr Sheeraz Ahmed told The News that an autopsy had been performed on Maqsood by another doctor serving under him and the body was then handed over to the family. He said the cause of death was gunshots to the head and shoulder.
Family blames police
Maqsood’s family has said that police killed him for no reason, and demanded that action be taken against the policemen involved in the alleged encounter.
According to the family, Maqsood was a tailor; he was the only brother of five sisters and was set to be married in a few days. Home Minister Sohail Anwar Siyal took notice of the said ‘encounter’ and has sought a detailed inquiry report from the DIGP East immediately.
IGP praises police
IGP AD Khowaja has announced Rs200,000 reward for the police party.
In a statement released later in the day, Khowaja requested citizens to not “pressurise police officials on [their] genuine actions”. He was reacting to media reports doubting the veracity of the police ‘encounter’. “If you start to downplay genuine actions, police officers will be hesitant to assist citizens,” he said.
