Blood Feud: SI ambushed on way to work

LAHORE: A sub inspector was shot and killed, apparently over an old enmity, in Badami Bagh on Tuesday. Police said that Naveed Bhatti, son of Tufail Bhatti of Badami Bagh, left his house on his bicycle in the morning to head to work at Lower Mall police station. He was intercepted at Data Nagar Pul near Usman Chowk by men on foot who opened fire at him. He fell from the bike and was also shot several times while he lay on the ground, a police official said. Naveed died at the scene.His relatives later gathered at the site and shouted slogans condemning the police, accusing them of being slow to get to the crime scene to catch the killers and collect evidence. They blocked the road with burning tyres for over an hour.  The police official said that SI Naveed had a blood feud with three men named Zeeshan, Bilal and Shahbaz in which six people had died, including Naveed’s brother Zeeshan in 2009. He said that the police had registered a case against Zeeshan, Bilal, Shahbaz and Tanveer on the complaint of Naveed’s nephew Arsalan. He said that investigators had collected evidence from the crime scene.

Published in The Express Tribune, September 28^th, 2011.