Two robbers killed in police ‘encounter’

FAISALABAD:

Madina Town police said on Monday they had killed two robbers in an encounter soon after they had robbed a citizen of his car.

However, residents of Rehman Garden where the alleged encounter took place said they did not witness any shootout and that police had killed the men after arresting them. Madina Town Station House Officer (SHO) Rana Fakhar Waheed said the robbers stopped Salahuddin, a resident of village 204 GB, snatched his car and drove away. “People called us. We chased and surrounded the robbers near Rehman Garden on Canal Road,” Waheed told The Express Tribune. He said police asked them to surrender but they resorted to firing.

“We repeatedly asked them to give up but they did not. We later fired back and they were killed,” he said.

Residents of the area said they had not heard any shots and it appeared that the men were killed in police’s custody.

“No encounter took place. We did not witness any exchange of fire. We saw some police vehicles entering Rehman Garden and after a while we were told police had killed the robbers after a 15-minute shootout,” said Muhammad Hussain, a resident of Rehman Garden.

CPO Haider Ashraf said the encounter was “genuine” and the robbers were killed in a shootout. He said police had also recovered the stolen car and weapons from the robbers who he said were yet to be identified. “The bodies have been sent to a mortuary and a committee has been formed to ascertain their identity.”

Published in The Express Tribune, May 20^th, 2014.