Three cops arrested over man’s killing in Korangi

Three cops were suspended and arrested on Sunday after they allegedly killed a factory worker in a fake encounter in the Korangi area of the city late on Saturday night.

Wasif, 33, was shot in Mehran Town within the limits of the Korangi Industrial Area police station in the late hours of Saturday. He was taken to Jinnah Postgraduate Medical Centre where doctors pronounced him dead.

The deceased was a resident of the same area and worked at a private factory.

Initially, a police team claimed to have killed a suspected criminal during crossfire but when family members of the victim reached the hospital, they declared that he was innocent and was killed in a fake police encounter.

Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf MNA Fahim Khan and MPA Raja Azhar Khan condemned the incident and reached the police station to register a case against the policemen for killing an innocent man in a fake encounter.

The Korangi Industrial Area police registered an FIR No 1692/21 on the complaint of the victim’s brother against three cops who were later arrested.

In the meantime, police high-ups also admitted that the victim was not a criminal as his criminal record had not been found. The District Korangi police chief, SSP Shahjahan Khan, told The News that the deceased had no criminal record and he was a passer-by who was killed during crossfire between police and fleeing criminals. “Three policemen were sitting around a fire due to cold weather when two suspects on a motorcycle arrived and attempted to steal their motorcycle,” SSP Khan explained.

He added that as the policemen tried to catch the suspects, the robbers escaped in the cover of fire.

The officer said that during the crossfire, the victim was passing by the scene and died after he received a bullet wound. According to the SSP, it was yet to be ascertained whether the bullet that had killed the victim was fired by the cops or the suspects. Further investigations are under way.