Controversial elimination: Rearrested suspect killed in encounter

Bengali and another suspect had escaped police custody on Friday

KARACHI: A day after the Rangers rearrested one of the two suspects who escaped from police custody after allegedly killing a cop and critically injuring another, police revealed on Monday that the suspect was killed in an 'exchange of fire'.

Abdul Malik Bengali was rearrested late Saturday night by the Rangers in a raid conducted on a tip-off about his presence in Korangi.

The accused was later handed over to the police for further investigation but before the investigations could begin, he was killed in an alleged encounter.

Murder suspects Bengali and Imtiaz Rind had escaped when they were being transported to the Korangi police station after a hearing at an anti-terrorism court on Friday. Korangi's Station Investigation Officer (SIO) Wasey Jhokio, who accompanied the suspects along with two other policemen in a private vehicle, remained unhurt in the incident.

He was later arrested by the police for his alleged involvement in the suspects' escape as police investigators said the escaped suspects used an official 9mm pistol, belonging to the SIO, to kill and injure the policemen. SIO Jhokio had reported missing his official pistol earlier in the day.

The police on Monday claimed that Bengali was killed when the police were transporting him to a locality in Malir to conduct a raid at the suspected hideout of his comrade, Rind.

"Before the police could nab Rind, he, Bengali and a third companion Faisal Bengali attacked the police party," claimed DSP Ghulam Nabi Wago. "The police retaliated and Bengali was killed during an exchange of fire while Rind and Faisal managed to escape." Police officials said that the hunt for the remaining suspects is under way.

Bengali and Rind were earlier arrested by the Korangi police for their alleged involvement in the murder of a policeman and a milkman in Korangi. They were later handed over to the investigation wing of the Korangi police for further investigations where they were being probed under the supervision of SIO Jhokio.

Published in The Express Tribune, October 4^th, 2016.