MULTAN, March 3: Deputy Superintendent of Police Naveed Ikram of Rojhan tehsil, who was grievously injured in a shootout with bandits in Rajanpur district on Sunday night, died after a few hours’ struggle early Monday.

The shootout took place on the Indus Highway, near Miani Phatak in Rojhan police station precinct.

Mr Ikram along with other injured, including four Elite Force personnel, was taken to the Rajanpur District Headquarters Hospital. At midnight, doctors referred him to the Multan’s Nishtar Hospital when he was bleeding.

However, the paramedics accompanying him to Multan in an ambulance brought him back after a short while, assessing that the injured police officer could not travel 200 kilometres. He died within minutes.

Mr Ikram belonged to Chishtian tehsil of Bahawalnagar. He is survived by a widow and a son.

His funeral prayer was offered at Rajanpur police lines at 12:30 noon and later he was buried at his ancestral town.

Bandits on Sunday night opened fire at a Karachi-bound bus, injuring five passengers. They were plundering cash and valuables from the passengers when an Elite Force mobile followed by Rojhan police reached there.

In the ensuing encounter, at least 10 people were injured. One of the passengers, Jamshed Khalid, died before any medical aid could be provided to him.

Three of the Elite Force personnel — Sajjad, Azam and Hashim — were admitted to the Nishtar Hospital owing to their serious condition. The bandits, however, fled unscathed through the Khakhar Road towards Balochistan.

Some of the passengers told the police that the highwaymen had worn police uniforms and they were 20 in number.

The place of shootout was the same spot from where some Bugti tribesmen had kidnapped Rojhan police station SHO Farooq Leghari and two constables on January 26 last. The authorities have yet to retrieve the officials.

It was learnt that police had been receiving wireless messages from Inspector Farooq Leghari in Shahwali police station area for the last few days. The official reportedly asked that he wanted to talk to Sikandar, Tariq and Jahangir, the call signs of SHO, DSP and DPO, respectively. He was begging for his release, an official source disclosed.

The reception of wireless messages shows that the victims and the kidnappers were less than 20 kilometres away from the police station at the time of airing messages, which meant they were in the Punjab at that time.