Another citizen killed in crossfire during New Town encounter

A shoot-out between police officials and suspected robbers near Power House Chowrangi in New Karachi on Tuesday morning left a rickshaw driver dead, a police officer informed The News.

New Karachi SHO Chaudhry Liaquat said that a gang had been active in his jurisdiction for the past few days, adding that they were involved in snatching motorcycles during the early hours.

SHO Liaquat said police officials were deployed at different checkpoints where the crimes were reported, adding that patrolling officials witnessed the gang snatching a motorcycle near Power House Chowrangi on Tuesday morning and told them to surrender.

However, said the officer, the gang opened fire on the police team, which returned fire. During the ensuing encounter, a rickshaw driver passing through the area got caught in the crossfire and suffered a bullet, added the SHO.

He said the police shifted the injured, later identified as Abdul Haseeb, to the Abbasi Shaheed Hospital, where he succumbed to his injuries during treatment. The rickshaw driver had suffered a bullet to the face.

The police also pursued the fleeing suspects and apprehended one of them as well as found a pistol on him and impounded his motorcycle, added the police officer.

SHO Liaquat said the arrested suspect was identified as Liaquat Ali, who hails from Khuzdar in Balochistan and is a part of an inter-provincial gang of motorcycle snatchers.

The motorcycle that the police impounded turned out to have been snatched on Monday in New Karachi, he said, adding that the initial post-mortem report of the driver confirmed that the bullet came from a 30-bore pistol, which the gang was equipped with, as the policemen were using sub-machine guns.

The officer said Abdul Haseeb was a retired Pakistan Army official and had been driving a rickshaw on a part-time basis.

Sindh police chief IGP Amjad Javed Saleemi has taken notice of the incident and ordered an inquiry into it. DIG Khadim Hussain Rind of the West Range has been appointed as the inquiry officer and ordered to submit a comprehensive report to the police chief at the earliest.