Armed men opened fire at a prayer leader near Jamshed Road, injuring him - reportedly over resistance during robbery - on Saturday night. The CCTV footage retrieved later raised suspicions, however, that this may have been an attempted target killing rather than a botched robbery.
The injured prayer leader, identified as Mufti Abdullah, 46, was shifted to Dr Ruth Pfau Civil Hospital with a gunshot wound to his stomach.
Meanwhile, area residents caught one of the suspects, beating him before handing him over to the police.
According to the police, the detained suspect was identified as Mudassir Memon and his accomplice who managed to escape was Farhan.
During initial interrogation, Memon told the cops that Farhan had received information about a large quantity of money in the prayer leader's possession, based on which they attempted to rob him. The police said Memon claimed to not know the source of Farhan's information.
The police further added that a 9mm pistol was confiscated from Memon's possession and sent for forensic analysis.
The CCTV footage later obtained by the police showed the prayer leader on a motorcycle driven by another man, being followed by another motorcycle. Both vehicles stopped by a building and Abdullah dismounted. The person who drove him there left after a brief conversation and three other persons - two on one motorcycle and one on another motorcycle - arrived.
The motorcycle with two riders stopped near Abdullah, while the third suspect drove to his other side and shot him.
From the CCTV footage, it does not appear that the prayer leader was shot by robbers as the perpetrator can be seen opening fire right away.
Before the CCTV footage emerged, a resistance over robbery case was lodged at the Jamshed Quarters police station by the SHO but the video footage has raised further questions. Sindh IGP Mushtaq Ahmed Mahar has sought details of the incident from the East SSP.
Published in The Express Tribune, November 2nd, 2020.
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