DHA party shoot-out: Men involved have criminal records, say police

Some men nominated in FIR have also served prison sentence, say police.

KARACHI:

Police on Tuesday announced that the men involved in the shoot-out at a party that took place on June 26, have previous criminal records.

The police said that Taleh Bugti, Arif Raajar, Dr Iqbal, Faisal Pataka, Kamran alias Moon, Mustafa and Sameer Baloch have been nominated in previous FIRs.

These names include those who were killed in the clash, along with some of those present at the party who have been nominated in the FIR.

The police are looking for Raajar in connection to the incident.

The police added that some of these men have also served prison sentences.  They also said that a few of the men nominated in the FIR have been involved in land mafias, fights and thefts.

Updated from print edition (below)

Police name men from both sides in FIR

The police have registered a case against all members of the two groups who clashed at a party in DHA on Saturday night, leading to the deaths of six men, including Taleh Bugti.

In FIR No. 192/2011, the people who have been nominated from the Bugti group include the deceased himself, Taleh, his brother Zamraan, his cousin Zahid Butt, Umair Yusuf, Rehan, Ghaffar, Bilawal and six others. From the Arif Raajar side, the list includes the names of the fugitive Arif Raajar, the deceased Dr M Iqbal, deceased Kamran Gul alias Noon, Sameer Baloch, Waseem, Mushtaq, DJ Savvy and Ghiyas. Sources said that a high-ranking police officer was pressing the Gizri police to leave out the high-profile names and hush up the matter.

“We’re holding raids but we haven’t had any particular success,” SHO Rana Amjad told The Express Tribune. “But we’ve widened our intelligence network and dispatched messages to their homes that they will soon be in our custody.”

Police is on the lookout for the accused Arif Raajar, who has reportedly gone underground. An officer told The Express Tribune that they have a fairly good idea where he may be hiding and soon would be able to arrest him.

Postmortem reports

Meanwhile, the Gizri police have received the postmortem reports. It confirms that the men were shot dead. Sindh police surgeon Dr Hamid Padhiar told The Express Tribune that they were shot from a distance of between three to eight feet. He said that Bugti was shot twice in the chest. Only one victim, Dr Mohammad Iqbal, was shot once in the head at close range while the others were shot in the chest and abdomen.

The police surgeon said a total of six people were killed, as opposed to the five initially reported. The investigation officer, Rana Mohammad Iqbal, confirmed that the toll was six but that four people died on the spot and Bugti and Shuja, son of Habib Hassan Abidi, died later.

The two men who were critically injured, Ziauddin and Shahid Wahab, are in the ICU in private hospitals while the rest were discharged. “They aren’t capable of giving their statements yet,” said an investigation officer. Both men are in their early 20s. Ziauddin is a resident of Block 6, Gulshan-e-Iqbal. He was shot twice in the chest and abdomen and is being treated at a private hospital in Karimabad. Shahid Wahab, 26, a resident of Azad Jamhoria Colony, Mehmoodabad, was shot once in the chest and was admitted to Aga Khan hospital. His family, including three brothers and wife, anxiously awaited some good news at the special care unit. One of the bullets pierced his abdomen and went out his back. Another bullet grazed his neck.

His brother Asif Wahab told The Express Tribune that doctors have given them hope that Shahid would survive but warned that recovery may take months. Shahid runs the family garments business and is married with three children. “He went to the party with some of his friends, not knowing what tragedy awaited them,” said Asif. The family won’t be filing a case since they don’t know who fired at him. “My brother says the lights were dim and the entire commotion took place in seconds, so he doesn’t know who exactly shot who,” Asif said.

Published in The Express Tribune, June 28^th, 2011.