KARACHI, April 15: A lawyer was shot dead in the courtroom of the Sindh High Court on Tuesday.
The police arrested two suspects, including a policeman, for killing the lawyer and seized from them an official motorcycle, bearing number “Police 12”.
The victim was identified as Ashraf Khan, a junior advocate in the SHC.
Police investigation said the suspected assailant came to the courtroom of Justice Syed Zawar Hussain Jaffery and shot at Mantab Ali Shah, who appeared before the court to seek bail in a murder case. Mantab Ali instantly ducked and the bullets hit 35-year-old Ashraf Khan.
The assailant went out of the building where a man on an official motorcycle was waiting for him. They rode away and as they wanted to exit through the main gate of the Sindh High Court in the Sindh Assembly building, the police guards tried to stop them. A scuffle ensued and the police overpowered the two suspects. They were identified as Behram, a civilian, and Sub-Inspector Pir Bakhsh Junejo, in charge of the Town Intelligence Branch of Shah Faisal Town.
After the arrest, Junejo claimed that the suspect had taken him at gunpoint and ordered him to ride the motorbike. He sped the motorcycle but encountered the police guards at the main entrance where they were arrested. Behram, on the other hand, said he had used the pistol given to him by Junejo.
City police chief Asad Ashraf Malik said: “We are investigating the case and right now we are not sure whether the policeman is actually involved in the murder.”
However, sources said a man armed with a TT pistol came inside the courtroom and asked Ashraf Khan if he was advocate Qurban Ali Chohan. Mr Khan replied in the negative, but another man, standing outside the courtroom and peeping through the window, shouted: “He is telling a lie. He is (Chohan).” And the armed man fired at him. The first bullet hit Ashraf in a hand and he sat down and tried to hide under the wooden benches. The armed man shot him in the head and fled. The victim was taken to the Civil Hospital, where he died.
The court had been closed before the incident and Mantab Ali Shah, Ashraf Khan and others were discussing the case.
Suspect Behram’s uncle, Ali Mardan, was killed and Mantab was named in the FIR. Police said Behram was awarded life imprisonment by a Badin court in his absence and he had been absconding since. Behram told the police that he wanted to take revenge on Mantab for killing Ghous Bakhsh and Ali Mardan.
On April 4, Ghous Bakhsh Talpur, 28, son of a retired brigadier, Maula Bakhsh Talpur, was shot dead in his house in Khayaban-i-Badar, Phase V, Defence Housing Authority, by unknown persons.
Police said the dead was the caretaker and manager of the Lowari Sharif shrine in Badin. About the motive for the killing, the police said they believed that there had been a long-drawn tussle between two groups over the possession of the shrine.
Police said two groups, one led by Mohammad Sadiq Qureshi and the other by Pir Hasan Qadir, claimed to be the caretakers of the shrine. In the 1980s, about nine persons belonging to the Pir Hasan Qadir group were killed.
On March 12, gunmen killed Ali Mardan Chandio of the Mohammad Sadiq Qureshi group, who was also a manager of the shrine. Police said Ghous Bakhsh Talpur also belonged to the Qureshi group.
KARACHI, April 15: A lawyer was shot dead in the courtroom of the Sindh High Court on Tuesday.
