Two lawyers gunned down by colleague over property

LAHORE: Two advocates were shot dead by another reportedly over a property dispute inside Session’s Court on Tuesday.

The incident occurred at around 10am when two lawyers identified as Awais Talib, 26, and Rana Nadeem, 35, were busy in observing a case file outside court of an additional session’s judge.

Meanwhile, the suspect Advocate Kashif Rajpoot Ali reached there. He whipped out a weapon and shot seven bullets. Two lawyers received bullet injuries and fell down. The incident created panic on the premises. The lawyers and civilians who had come to follow their cases started running. CCTV footage showed a scene of a chaos and stampede all of a sudden after the sound of bullet shots.

Another CCTV footage of a gallery showed a group of lawyers running and transporting an injured to the hospital. Right after the incident, nearby advocates captured suspect Kashif Ali and handed him over to police.

On information of the incident, heavy contingent of police reached the spot and removed the bodies to morgue. They also collected forensic evidences from crime scene and recorded statements of the eye-witnesses.

Police said the initial investigations suggested that accused Rana Nadeem and suspect Kashif Ali were cousins. They were having a property dispute over a 5-marla plot in Harbanspura. Lawyer fraternity protested against the incident pronouncing it to be a result of poor security arrangements and announced strike for two days.

District and Session’s Judge Abid Hussain Qureshi took notice of the incident and asked police high-ups to submit report. Chief Justice of Lahore High Court Justice Yawar Ali also took notice of the incident and ordered Inspector General of Punjab Police Arif Nawaz Khan and Capital City Police Officer (CCPO) Amin Wains to submit report.

Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif also took notice of the incident and ordered CCPO to submit report at the earliest. This is not the first incident of violence at sessions’ court. Last month, a murder accused and a police constable were shot dead by the opponents while on way to appear before a judge. In June, 2012, two prisoners were shot dead inside judicial prisons. In May 2011, two brothers accused of murder were killed inside eye-witnesses dock in a court.