Shootout in Pindi: One dead, another injured in encounter

Nobody has come to identify the deceased: officials.

RAWALPINDI:

The body of a suspected robber, who was allegedly shot dead in an encounter by the Rawalpindi police late on Wednesday night, is still lying in the District Headquarter Hospital (DHQ). No one has approached the police to identify the dead body, said an official.

The deceased, identified as Yasir Khan, 25, was killed in an alleged encounter with two policemen of the Mohafiz squad on Tipu Road in the jurisdiction of the Waris Khan Police Station.

His accomplice, Farhan Ali, was injured in the same encounter. He was shifted to the Benazir Bhutto Hospital (BBH) for treatment, while the third accomplice, who was identified as Waseem, escaped from the scene, the official added.

According to SHO Waris Khan Police Station Raja Abdul Rasheed, the police received a message on wireless that three robbers were fleeing after snatching a motorcycle (IDL 3329) from one, Mehboob, in the Mohalla Raja Sultan area of Banni police jurisdiction. He said that the police reached the spot and challenged them. He said that the alleged robbers opened fire on the police and the police retaliated and returned fire, as a result of which, Khan died on the spot. The SHO claimed that the deceased and the injured robbers had a criminal record of having been involved in 20 cases of robbery, car theft and mobile snatching.



According to the SHO, both the deceased and the injured accused were the residents of Ratta Amral. He said that the third accused, Waseem, who was at large, would soon be arrested after the police interrogates Ali.

Answering a question, the SHO did not suspect foul play in alleged encounter, saying the incident occurred on a crowded road in broad daylight, in the presence of eyewitnesses.

Published in The Express Tribune, February 8^th, 2013.