KARACHI: The police officer whose guards were involved in the DHA shootout, which left a teenager and one of the guards dead and another teenager and a private guard wounded, could face an inquiry over charges of negligence, said a senior police officer on Friday.
“I will submit a report to the IG police, requesting him to initiate a departmental inquiry on charges of misconduct against SP Ghulam Sarwar Abro, whose son used the police guards to settle a personal score,” said DIG South Abdul Khalique Sheikh.
The officer’s son, Salman Abro, 18, along with five police guards of his father had stormed the residence of Suleman Lashari, 18, on Khayaban-i-Shamsheer at around 2am. It triggered a shootout, claiming the life of Lashari and the 27-year-old police guard, Zaheer Ahmed Rind. It also left Salman Abro and the private guard of the deceased Lashari wounded.
The wounded teenager was still not in a position to record his statement, the police said.
The DIG quoted the Abro family as saying that a few hours before the incident, a scuffle had broken out between the teenagers and Salman Abro went there for settlement. However, he added, police were investigating to ascertain if this was a cover-up story or based on facts. They were examining every witness before arriving at a conclusion about the possible motive for the killing.
The DIG said several cartridges of an SMG rifle, a repeater and a 9mm pistol had been seized from the crime-scene. He explained that the wounded Abro was armed with a 9mm pistol, the SMG rifle belonged to the policeman while the repeater was used from the side of Suleman Lashari.
Meanwhile, police investigators collected 26 spent casings of bullets fired from the SMG rifle, two from the repeater and eight fired from the 9mm pistol from the spot.
The deceased Lashari sustained two bullet wounds fired from the SMG rifle and 9mm pistol, in the neck and hip, investigators said. They said that Abro also sustained two bullet wounds in his back.
Earlier, an anti-terrorism court on Friday remanded four policemen in police custody in the case pertaining to the teenager murder till May 15.
Police constables Imran Ali, Yasin Jamali, Maqbool and Mohammad Rashid were produced in court but Salman Abro, said to be the prime suspect, was not brought before the court on medical grounds.
The investigating officer sought the custody of all the suspects, including Salman, who he said could not be brought to the court as he was under treatment at a hospital.
Judge Saleem Raza Baloch of the ATC-III handed over the suspects to the police on physical remand for seven days and turned down the police request to grant the remand of the wounded suspect by ruling that his physical appearance in court was necessary for remand.
The police in their report submitted that Salman Abro along with the five police guards came to the house of Suleman Lashari in DHA in the early hours of May 8 and opened fire on the victim’s guard, Ali Ghulam, leaving him wounded. The suspect along with two guards then broke into the house and opened fire on Suleman Lashari leaving him wounded. In the meantime, the wounded guard managed to return fire that left police constable Zaheer Ahmed dead and Salman wounded.
Later, they added, Suleman Lashari died.
A case was registered under Sections 302 (premeditated murder), 324 (attempted murder), 427 (mischief causing damage to the amount of fifty rupee) and 34 (common intention) of the Pakistan Penal Code read with Section 7 of Anti-terrorism Act, 1998 on a complaint of the deceased’s brother at the Darakshan police station.