Gunman killed after hostage stand-off with police

KARACHI:

A man who took his own family hostage in Bangash Colony was killed in a shootout with the Paposh Nagar police. Earlier this week, the same man shot his sister-in-law dead before fleeing the scene.

SHO Paposh Nagar Haseeb Sheikh shared that two ago, the body of a pregnant 28-year-old Hafza Bibi, wife of Naseem Gul, was found in house no A-14 of the colony.

The husband of the deceased was a security guard and found the body lying in a pool of blood after he returned from duty. He believed the woman died after a fall.

When the family gave the final bath to the body before burial, the woman performing the ritual informed the husband that the corpse bore a bullet hole to the chest. Subsequently, he contacted the police whose investigations suggested that the incident took place at 11am.

The SHO said that the force was informed of the incident at night after a considerable delay. An autopsy confirmed that the victim had been shot dead. The dead body was handed over to the family after the completion of medico-legal formalities.

Naseem Gul left for Hingu to bury his wife, while police lodged a case against unidentified suspects. In the meantime, law enforcers learnt that the brother-in-law of the deceased, Arif Gul, reportedly a dangerous and unstable person, was at large.

Further information revealed that Gul would physically abuse his old father and other family members. The SHO stated his whereabouts were last traced to Gadani. The police believed that is was involved in the murder of Hafza Bibi.

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The SHO shared that the police prompted informants in the area as it was suspected Arif would return. He added that as expected, the suspect did return home after two days.

On return, he took his father, two sisters and a three-year-old boy named Kashif hostage. The police official said that Gul continued with his reign of terror and physically abused the family.

Meanwhile, Naseem Gul informed the police about this development and the SHO claimed that the force acted quickly to arrive at the scene.

When they knocked on the door, Arif refused to open and loaded a pistol instead to prepare for a standoff. The police called for reinforcements and surrounded the home from three sides.

The SHO shared that the police started negotiating with the suspect. However, some cops noticed that he was aiming towards the main door of the house. Taking caution, the contingent stepped back

Meanwhile, Gul sisters and the three-year-old took the opportunity to lock them themselves in a room, while the elderly father remained in the main area due to his physical limitations.

According to the SHO, the suspect was frantic and would sometimes offer prayers or simply stand listlessly on the stairs of his home. The police tried to take the suspect into custody, but he opened fire on them instead.

Despite being surrounded, Gul managed to fire multiple shots at the police. Finally, police managed to gain the upper hand and shot the suspect dead. The women of the house opened the gate after the suspect was killed and this allowed the police to enter.

It was believed that the suspect fired over 30 bullets from the confines of his home, as suggested by the number of bullet casings recovered from the scene of the crime.

Quoting the neighbours, the SHO shared that preliminary investigations revealed that the suspect doubted that his sister-in-law was behind his divorce and he murdered her as a consequence.

Published in The Express Tribune, July 1^st, 2021.