A roadside chips vendor was killed in crossfire between policemen and drug peddlers in the Rizvia Society area of Nazimabad on Saturday.
Though the drug pushers managed to escape, the local shopkeepers, vendors and street hawkers overpowered the two policemen who had engaged the suspects in exchange of fire on a busy street.
People tortured the policemen and held them hostage for hours, demanding registration of murder case against them and compensation for the heirs of the deceased. The protestors also burnt tires on the main Nazimabad Road causing a traffic jam.
A contingent of Rangers and police reached the spot, while Liaquatabad zone SP talked with the people holding the plainclothesmen hostage to release them in police custody on assurance of conducting a fair inquiry.
SSP Central Ghulam Murtaza Tabassum said that four officials of the Rizvia Police Station two in uniform and two in civvies had gone to arrest an alleged drug pusher Fazal Baichni from his den in the Lane 6 of Kabuli Bazaar.
However, Baichni's honchos opened fire on the police, on which police returned fire. A chips vendor, Muhammad Usman, 40, got caught in middle of crossfire and died.
SSP Tabassum said that people took two police officials in plainclothes, Faizan and Muneer, hostage and tortured them brutally. The video of locals beating up the cops was also streamed live on social media platforms.
The top officer of the district said that Usman's post-mortem will be conducted to ascertain whether he died of bullets fired by the police or the drug traffickers.Meanwhile, the protesters alleged that the chips vendor died of bullets fired by the plainclothesmen, Faizan and Munir.
Published in The Express Tribune, June 6th, 2021.
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