Follow-up murder: Man shot dead for not withdrawing complaint

Police arrest one of the seven suspects after protest by family.

SAHIWAL:

A man was shot dead on Monday a few metres away from the police station by seven men after he refused to withdraw a case filed against the suspects.

Witnesses identified the men as Muhammad Mumtaz, Muhammad Aamir, Muhammad Sajjad, Muhammad Asghar, Muhammad Imran and two unidentified men.

The relatives of the deceased, Muhammad Farooq, placed the body in front of the Sahiwal police station and protested against the police for failing to arrest the suspects.

The protesters said that the men had killed Farooq’s mother a year ago. They said he had filed a case against them. They (suspects) had been pressing him to withdraw the case.

They said despite registration of a case, the police were hesitant to arrest the men. They said Farooq had also filed a complaint with the district police officer saying that the suspects roamed around armed, intimidating him and some of his relatives. He had requested the district police officer to direct the police to arrest the suspects.

On Monday, they said, the suspects had followed Farooq on his way to work, and shot at him. He had escaped the attack. An hour later, they said, the seven men caught him near his workplace and shot. Farooq died on the way while being carried to a hospital.

They demanded that the police immediately arrest the killers. They threatened to attack the police station if the police failed to do so.

The protesters dispersed when the station house officer visited the scene and informed them that one of the assailants, Aamir, had been arrested. Police said they had also recovered a pistol from him.

Police said they were looking for the remaining suspects, who were at large. Denying allegations of being hesitant in arresting the suspects, the station house officer said that they had been arrested but had been released on bail.

Published in The Express Tribune, September 3^rd, 2013.