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Tuesday March 19, 2024

Investigation proves police shot couple in Korangi

By Salis bin Perwaiz
January 23, 2019

The investigation team probing the incident in Korangi where a suspicious police shoot-out left a couple injured over the weekend has submitted its report stating that the victims were injured due to police negligence and suggesting that legal action be taken against the responsible cops.

Speaking to The News on Tuesday, East Range DIG Amir Farooqi said that the investigation team’s report confirms that the couple was injured due to police firing. The pair, 40-year-old Adnan and 30-year-old Saqiba, who is eight months pregnant, were getting in their car on Sunday evening in Korangi 5 when they got caught in alleged crossfire between cops and suspected robbers. They were taken to the Jinnah Postgraduate Medical Centre and are in stable condition.

According to the report, constables Zahir Shah and Abdul Majeed of Awami Colony police station were patrolling in their respective area when unidentified suspects on a motorbike snatched a submachine gun from one of them and sped away. To overpower the fleeing suspects, the cops opened random fire in which passersby Adnan and Saqiba got injured. The suspects managed to flee.

DIG Farooqi said that the forensic and medical examination report confirmed that the couple got injured due to the firing of policemen and that the cops were found negligent in performing their duty. Moreover, the constables were placed under suspension and an order has been issued to register an FIR against them at the Awami Colony police station.

Meanwhile Korangi SSP Ali Raza informed that they had contacted the family, which includes a retired sub-inspector, Zareen Khan, to come to register an FIR as the complainant, but he said he will discuss within the family first.

Raza further said that they have also requested the wounded couple, but they have also said that they would first discuss with their elders and then approach police. He added that if the family had not approached the police by Tuesday, then a case would be registered against the cops on behalf of the state.

Moreover, the Sindh police have issued a statement urging citizens to not view the Korangi firing incident as something similar to the Sahiwal tragedy, where officials of the Counter-Terrorism Department opened fire at a car on a highway, leaving three of a family, including a teenage girl dead, as that “was a different case”.

The statement added that the Korangi incident was not intentional as it occurred in retaliation to the offence committed by the criminals who snatched an official weapon and were fleeing, and in the crossfire, the couple got injured.

Earlier on Monday, SSP Raza sent the two policemen, Zahir Shah and Abdul Majeed, to quarter guard (placed in police detention) in the aftermath of the firing, while doctors at JPMC declared the couple to be in stable condition.

“They are gradually getting better. There is a massive change in their conditions as compared to when they were brought to the hospital,” JPMC Executive Director Dr Seemin Jamali told The News on Monday. “It was a challenge for doctors to the save the woman, who is eight months pregnant. But thank God, she and the baby are both safe now.”

According to Dr Jamali, the bullets are still stuck in the bodies of both victims and the doctors would decide if it is better to remove them or let them stay in. She said the pair was stable and would be discharged soon.