KARACHI, Dec 12: Police claimed here on Wednesday of having killed notorious gangster Mashooq Brohi in a shootout in Hub, Balochistan.

Earlier on July 12 last year, police had made a claim of killing Brohi in an ‘encounter’ in Gadap. However, almost 10 days after the police claim it transpired that the man shot dead by the police was someone else.

Capital City Police Officer DIG Azhar Ali Farooqi told a hurriedly-called press conference that he was ‘quite sure’ of the identity of the killed suspect. “A DNA profile will be carried out to ascertain the identity of the notorious criminal,” he added.

Mr Farooqi said a special team, comprising 80 personnel of police and other law enforcement agencies, raided the hideout of the suspect at around 3:30pm on Sakran Road on a tip-off.

He said the suspect had been actively involved in several cases of kidnapping for ransom and murders since 1995. “He organised his gang at the end of 2001 and received millions of rupees in ransom,” he added. The CCPO said Mashooq Brohi was a hardened criminal who also killed some of his kidnapped victims to spread terror among the families of other victims.

He said four of Brohi’s accomplices — Fateh Rind alias Fattu, Lal Khan Rind, Ameer Bukhsh and Wahid Bukhsh — fled the scene taking advantage of the bushes around their hideout. “Brohi was fatally wounded and he died while he was being taken to hospital,” he added.

The city police chief said the provincial government had announced a reward of Rs2.5 million for Brohi’s arrest.

Answering a question, he said Mashooq Borhi’s younger brother was also in jail and the police would try to ascertain the identity of the killed suspect through his brother.

He, however, said that the police had not so far contacted the heirs or relatives of Mashooq Brohi. “We are trying to locate his relatives,” he added.

The police also claimed to having seized an MP-5 automatic rifle from the spot. “This seized weapon seems to have been snatched from a law enforcer,” the police said.

On Aug 9 last year, the head of the Lyari Task Force, SP Aslam Khan, was arrested as the Supreme Court, while hearing a case in Islamabad, had ordered his immediate production. The SC had taken suo motu notice of reports that the police had killed an innocent man, Rasool Bux Brohi.

Four other police officials, including the then SHO of Baghdadi Nasirul Hasan, Inspector Asif Qureshi, Sub-Inspector Abdul Ghani and Mir Faroosh, were also arrested.

Earlier, praising the police performance, the then home minister Rauf Siddiqui, had announced an additional one million rupee reward and one-step promotion for the low- ranking officials who had taken part in the operation.

However, later it was discovered that the police party had staged the encounter and in fact one Rasool Bux Brohi was killed. An FIR (101/2006) was registered at the Sakran police station against over 15 officials of the Lyari Task Force, including two inspectors of the Anti-car Lifting Cell, who had also taken part in the staged encounter, on the complaint of a brother of Rasool Bux Brohi.

The victim was stated to have been arrested with his two friends when he was coming to Hyderabad from Sakran by bus. He was kept in police custody and on July 12 an ‘encounter’ was staged by the police.

Later on Oct 5, the Federal Investigation Agency’s immigration staff arrested Inspector Sarwar Khan, better known as Sarwar Commando, at the Jinnah Terminal where he had gone to board a Dubai-bound flight.

Inspector Sarwar was also wanted in the extra-judicial killing case of Rasool Bux Brohi.

Police said Inspector Sarwar Commando was wanted in a case under FIR 101/2006 of Sakrand police station, Nawabshah, as an accused in the Mashooq Brohi killing case.

As many as 12 police officials, including SP Aslam Khan, DSP Irfan Bahadur and Inspector Bahauddin Babar, had already been in judicial custody, while 36 other officials were absconding.

Rasool Bux Brohi, a hari who left behind his wife, five sons and a daughter, had been working on an agricultural land in Chathha goth near Hub.

In the ‘80s, he had settled with his family in Qadan Shoro village and then left for Habib Farm in 2002 and finally shifted to Chathha village, Hub, three years back.

His relatives said that he obtained five days leave from his kamdar, Abdul Rehman Chandio, who later appeared before the inquiry committee, on July 7, promising to return on July 12 after arranging the surety amount for his father, confined in central prison along with a brother and a son.

One Khadim Brohi had assured Rasool Bux Brohi that he would arrange the surety amount for his father, therefore, he should visit him in Sakrand, and Brohi then went to meet Khadim with Siddiqui Brohi on July 8.

Rasool Bux arrived there on July 6 and reportedly stayed with one Ghulam Qadir Brohi in Sakrand.

Khadim Brohi sent off Rasool Bux, Siddique and one Nizam Khaskheli in a Hyderabad-bound bus from Sakrand. When the bus reached Sabho Rahu stop, policemen in civvies, who were waiting in a white car and a white van, reportedly made them disembarked and waylaid them.