Mob burns ‘robber’ to death in Karachi

Bilal Town police station duty officer says when the police arrived at the scene, the alleged robber was already dead

KARACHI:

A suspected robber was burnt to death while his partners managed to escape, when a mob attacked them after they allegedly robbed a shopkeeper near Sindhi hotel in New Karachi on Wednesday night.

Three men allegedly snatched cash and mobile phone from a 17-year-old dry fruit shop salesperson, Sami Ali, and also mugged the fruit vendors outside the shop. As the suspected robbers were fleeing, a mob attacked them. The alleged robbers opened fire in retaliation, injuring three people, including Ali.



Bilal Town police station duty officer ASI Raja said that when the police arrived at the scene, the alleged robber was already dead. He added that the mob brutally beat the robber and then burnt him alive, which resulted in his death. ASI Raja added that the body has yet to be identified and has been shifted to Abbasi Shaheed Hospital.

The incident took place at around 9:30pm, said the owner of a dry fruits shop Farman Ali. "I was not at the shop at the time of robbery but I immediately reached there and shifted the boy [Ali] to the hospital," the shop owner said. He added that he had no idea who caught the robbers, as he was at the hospital. According to the police, an FIR was registered at Bilal Town police station by the shop owner against the culprits.

Published in The Express Tribune, December 18^th, 2015.