Abductee dies in crossfire between police, dacoits

Kidnappers were demanding millions of rupees for his ransom

HYDERABAD:

A man kidnapped from Hyderabad on October 11 was killed during an alleged exchange of fire between the police and kidnappers along an area on the border of Larkana and Shikarpur districts late on Thursday night.

The Hyderabad police, which was a part of the operation for recovery of slain Hassan Nasir Nizamani, have confirmed his death. A suspected kidnapper, Aijaz Babbur, was also killed in the encounter, police said.

In a statement, the Hyderabad police informed that SSP Dadu district Ameer Saud Magsi and SSP Khairpur district Mir Rohail Khoso were leading the raid in the limits of Dakhan police station of Shikarpur. Police claimed that Babbur was shot by the police while Nizamani was hit by bullets fired by the kidnappers when the slain person tried to escape taking advantage of the police raid.

So far no inquiry has been ordered over the manner of the police raid which ended up in the killing of a kidnapped victim. The post-mortem report which will declare whose bullet had hit Nizamani has yet to come.

According to the FIR, lodged at Rahuki police station in Hyderabad on October 12 by Nizamani's brother, Wali Muhammad Nizamani, the victim left home around 8am on October 11 on his motorbike but went missing. They searched him at the known places after which they approached the police.

Nizamani was a farmer who had acquired a mango orchard, owned by Dr Fehmida Junejo, on contract. The kidnappers, as per his brother, had contacted his family and were demanding tens of millions of rupees for his release.

The police during the course of their investigation arrested a taxi driver from Hyderabad who subsequently led them to the whereabouts of the bandits. A police official claimed that slain Babbur was the taxi driver who was rounded up a few days before the encounter.