Family feud? IHC judge’s nephew killed in Rawalpindi

Asad was shot while his brother was beaten up by armed assailants

RAWALPINDI: A man was killed while another was injured when they were shot near Mohra Darogha village on Saturday afternoon, police said.

The deceased was identified as Asad Saleem while the injured was identified as his brother, Farhan Saleem. The two, police said, were the maternal nephews of Islamabad High Court (IHC) Justice Shaukat Aziz Siddiqui. They had apparently been attacked over a marriage dispute.

According to Rawat police, the two brothers were travelling on their motorcycle when armed assailants riding in a Suzuki van intercepted them and rammed their motorcycle from behind near Mohra Daroga.

As the two brothers fell down, at least nine men, including Azhar, Mazhar and Mubashir along with five other unidentified men got off the car and started beating the brothers.

One of the attackers shot Asad with a 12 bore shotgun while the others thrashed Farhan, breaking his teeth.

After committing the crime, the attackers sped away in their van.

“The two brothers were attacked at around 3:45pm. With shotguns in their hands, the assailants shot Asad while Farhan was left bruised after being punched and kicked with the butts of the guns,” said a police investigator, who was present at crime scene.

“Asad sustained bullet injuries to his chest and head,” the police official said.

The body was shifted to District Headquarters Hospital for a postmortem.

Superintendent of Police (SP) Saddar Division Iftikharul Haq confirmed that armed men had gunned down Asad and injured Farhan.

He said that the motive behind the murder was suspected to be Farhan’s marriage to Azhar’s daughter. He said that Farhan had eloped with Azhar’s daughter around 10 months ago. Azhar had even filed a kidnapping case against Farhan with the Rawat police even as the couple later contracted court marriage.

However, owing to pressure from his family, Farhan had subsequently divorced his wife which enraged Azhar further and attacked Farhan and his brother.

“Homicide Investigation Unit (HIU) investigators are at the crime scene collecting evidence,” SP Haq said.

The injured Farhan had also recorded his statement before police.

Published in The Express Tribune, January 29^th, 2017.