Face off: Three alleged kidnappers killed in encounter, SIU

Police say suspects were involved in kidnapping of Dr Aftab Qureshi of LUMHS last year.

KARACHI: Three kidnappers were killed during an encounter on the Northern Bypass on Sunday, according to the Special Investigation Unit (SIU) officials. The alleged encounter between the policemen of SIU and the deceased took place in Surjani.

The alleged kidnappers were identified as Dr Daud Kashkori, Ali Malah and Akhtar Siyal. Officials also claimed to have found two Kalashnikovs, two hand grenades and a pistol in their possession.

According to SIU officials, police upon receiving a tip-off tried to intercept the culprits’ car, a Honda City, on theNorthern Bypass and that is when the alleged kidnappers opened fire. The police, in retaliation, also opened fire which killed the three men.

SIU Chief Farooq Awan said that the kidnappers hailed from Sindh, including Hyderabad, and Dr Kashkori was the ring leader of the group. He said that the group was involved in a number of cases of kidnapping for ransom, especially in rural Sindh.

According to Awan, the criminals were wanted by the police in more than 70 cases, including kidnapping for ransom, murder, attempt to murder, police encounter and bank robberies. “They were also involved in kidnapping of various Hindu traders in rural Sindh and in the case of neurosurgeon, Dr Aftab Qureshi, who was kidnapped from Taj Complex in Karachi on May 10, 2012.”

Qureshi was a professor and the head of department of neurosurgery at the Liaquat University of Medical and Health Sciences (LUMHS). He was killed when the Citizens Police Liaison Committee and Anti-Violent Crime Cell police, in collaboration with Hyderabad police, conducted a raid in Hyderabad. Qureshi and a police inspector, ASI Khalid Khan, were killed during the exchange of fire between police and kidnappers.

SSP Awan said that Kashkori was given capital punishment but he managed to escape from Hyderabad prison while a bounty of Rs1 million was placed on his head by the Sindh government.

Meanwhile, Rangers claimed to have apprehended 25 suspects during a targeted raid in Rangar Mohalla in Baldia Town. According to sources, seven workers of a political party were also among the detainees who were shifted to an undisclosed location for further questioning.

Published in The Express Tribune, April 1^st, 2013.