Police claim only three ACLC cops involved in youth’s murder

Disclosure comes after two more personnel surrender themselves to the authorities

KARACHI: Two more personnel of the Anti-Car Lifting Cell (ACLC) surrendered themselves to the police for their alleged involvement in the murder of Intizar Ahmed in Defence Housing Authority (DHA) a couple of days ago.

Intizar was shot dead late on Saturday evening on Khayaban-e-Ittehad after officials and personnel of the Karachi police’s specialised cell – the ACLC - resorted to indiscriminate fire at a White Corolla, killing a victim at the spot.

Though the police had claimed that the boy was killed in an act of targeted killing by at least two armed assailants riding a motorcycle, it was later revealed that the ACLC officials and personnel were behind the murder.

Hours after the killing, the Darakshan police arrested six of the nine ACLC men who are suspected to be involved in the case. The remaining three went into hiding. On Monday, two more ACLC cops surrendered themselves to the police, leaving one still on the run.

In a major breakthrough, the police investigators have also obtained the closed-circuit television camera footage of the incident. They now say that only two or three ACLC personnel opened fire on Intizar’s car.

“The police are in possession of the CCTV footage of the incident and eight of the nine police personnel named in the case have been arrested," Zone South police chief DIG Azad Khan said while sharing developments in the case at a press conference on Monday evening. “The CCTV footage suggests that only two or three personnel had opened fire on the car.”



The DIG admitted that the ACLC personnel were in plainclothes at the time of incident. “An ACLC police squad comprising nine cops was deployed there at the time of the incident and they were in plainclothes,” DIG Khan said. “They should not have been in plainclothes and they should not have opened fire.”

In another related development, the police have also found a girl who was also in the car at the time of the incident and fortunately was unhurt. In her initial statement to the police, the girl, who was a friend of the deceased, said she did not see the shooters due to the intensity of the firing. “I was with him [Intizar] but the firing was so intense. I was unable to see who resorted to indiscriminate fire,” said the girl, whose identity has not been disclosed yet. “I was scared. I used a rickshaw to leave the scene,” she said.

Officials said that the police have yet to record the girl’s official statement. “The girl appears to have no link with the incident. Her initial statement is in line with the footage shown on the CCTV cameras,” DIG Khan explained. “We will record her formal statement to make it a part of the investigation later.”

About 15 bullet cases of 9mm pistols were found at the crime scene. The initial forensic reports support that two or three pistols were used in the incident and the ballistics cross-matching report confirmed that the same weapons were used in the incident.



Intizar was his parents’ only child and was studying at a university in Malaysia after completing his schooling from the City School Darakshan campus. He returned to Karachi in November last year for his winter break.

The family and friends of the victim expressed dissatisfaction over the police investigations. “The police are trying to save their fellow cops. They are now trying to hold only two or three cops responsible despite the fact that all of them were involved in the killing,” said a close relative of the victim. “Their superiors should also be punished as they are responsible for dispatching a police squad in civilian clothes.”

Expressing zero faith in the police, the family of the deceased also held a press conference on Sunday over the incident, seeking justice from the Chief Justice of Pakistan and Chief of Army Staff. The family says that Intizar had a brawl with two men two days ago - Fahad and Haider – the sons of a lawyer and policeman respectively. According to them, the police investigators have yet to investigate this, as the police still believe that the ACLC squad was there in a bid to trace and arrest a gang of car snatchers.

This is not the first time such an incident has occurred in Karachi. There have been a number of similar incidents in the past in which the police and Rangers have been responsible for the deaths of innocent people, such as a young man named Abrar , a resident of Keamari, who was shot dead by Counter-Terrorism Department personnel in civilian dress in Sindhi Muslim Society in July, 2016.