‘Robbers’ beaten to a pulp were innocent: police

The ugly nature of vigilante justice reared its grotesque head as three boys, declared robbers and beaten to a pulp by an angry mob in Qasba Colony, turned out to be innocent.

Bilal Muhammad Khan, 17, died, while his friends Nisar Rahim Khan and Ehsanullah Zar Khan are lying in critical condition at the Abbasi Shaheed Hospital.

As per police investigation, neither has any evidence or record come to light to prove that Bilal was a criminal.

At the same time, no complainant has come forward to claim that the teenager robbed him or her.

Acting SSP West Arif Aslam Rao, while talking to The Express Tribune, further stated that two more people, Nisar Khan, son of Muhammad Rahim, and Ehsanullah, son of Zar Muhammad Khan, were physically assaulted and injured in the incident.

"They were also not criminals," he clarified.

He said that according to the preliminary investigation, the victims of violence had a heated argument.

Those who sparked the quarrels riled up others in the area by calling them dacoits.

Police officials said that the pistol shells found on the spot have been sent for forensics.