04 January 2004	Sunday	11 Ziqa'ad 1424

KARACHI, Jan 3: Three people died in road accidents in various parts of the city on Saturday. Police said a soothsayer, in his early 70s, was crossing a road in Soldier Bazaar police precinct when a motorcyclist hit him. The elderly man, who used to predict future at his makeshift roadside stall in the same vicinity, suffered serious injuries to his head and died on his way to hospital. He was known as Jalali Baba in the locality. The motorcyclist sped away, the police added.

In another hit-and-run accident, an unidentified man, in his mid 30s, died on Super Highway. Sachal police shifted the body to Abbasi Shaheed Hospital for autopsy. The body was later taken to Edhi morgue for identification.

In Saddar, an elderly man, in his 70, died when he was hit by an unknown vehicle on Talpur Road. His body was shifted to a hospital for autopsy, where his identity could not be established immediately.

BODY FOUND: The body of an infant girl was found in an empty plot in Korangi on Saturday.

Police said that the one-and-a-half years old girl was brutally killed. Police said that her head, legs and hands were chopped off. The body was found in Gilgit Colony within Zaman Town police limits. Police were trying to establish the identity of the girl and motive behind the killing of an infant.

SUICIDE: A jobless man committed suicide by consuming a heavy dose of poisonous stuff at his Rizvia Society home late Friday night.

Police said that Mohammad Shakil, 25, had been a jobless for the last many months. In utter frustration, he consumed a heavy dose of poisonous stuff and fell unconscious.

The family noticed when he did not wake up and took him to a hospital where he was declared dead.

WOUNDED: A shopkeeper and a policeman were wounded in a shootout between police and the alleged robbers near Bohri Bazaar in Saddar.

According to the police, Zahid Ahmed Khan withdrew cash of Rs150,000 from a bank in Clifton. He was intercepted by robbers in a car, and deprived him of cash at gunpoint. Zahid informed a patrolling police squad, which chased the robbers.

The police intercepted the car of the robbers near Bohri Bazaar in Saddar. In an exchange of fire, a policeman Javed Iqbal and a citizen Mohammad Rafiq were wounded. Two alleged robbers Inamullah and Jameel were arrested following recovery ofRs50,000, two TT pistols and the stolen car.

The injured citizen was later taken to Jinnah Postgraduate Medical Centre, where doctors said that the victim had suffered a bullet into his head. His condition was stated to be serious. It could not be known as to whether the victim was wounded with the bullet of bandits or the police.

However, a police spokesman said that the provincial police chief Syed Kamal Shah visited the hospital to inquire the health of the injured policeman and announced his promotion to the next rank.

The spokesman did not mention if the police chief visited the injured citizen for inquiring his condition.