Targeted killing?: Hindu cattle dealer shot dead on Saturday

There were protests outside the press club on Monday against the killing.

HYDERABAD: A cattle dealer was shot dead by robbers on Saturday in Latifabad, within the jurisdiction of the A-section police station. Armed men allegedly robbed Rs720,000 from Dhayan Chand Bhagri as he was returning home at around 5 am after selling animals in the Latifabad cattle market.

“He didn’t leave [the market] till dawn, fearing such an incident,” said Bhagri’s mother, Kesran. Though it is still unclear whether Bhagri was targeted because of his religious beliefs, hundreds of Hindus protested on Monday outside the press club, accusing the police of being sluggish in apprehending the suspects. They also staged a sit-in on Saturday along with the body outside the SSP’s office.

“My son had borrowed money and cattle. He had to pay off the debt,” said the victim’s father, Sobho Bhagri. Khail Das Kohistani, Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz’s provincial leader for minorities, said such incidents instill a sense of insecurity in the minorities. The police lodged an FIR on Sobho’s complaint in which two unidentified men have been nominated. The police said that the family did not allow a post-mortem and cremated the body.

Published in The Express Tribune, October 30^th, 2012.