VEHARI, April 16: A robber was killed and one of his accomplices sustained injuries when a police van hit them prior to an ‘encounter’ on Vehari-Burewala Road on Tuesday night near Danewal Town.

Police received information that four dacoits of Karampur area of Mailsi tehsil were on their way to Burewala by a motorbike.

During a chase, their motorcycle skidded off while negotiating a turn near Danewal. As a result the police van hit the two-wheeler.

They fell on the ground. A brief armed clash also took place, however, two of them managed their escape. No one received bullet injuries. The remaining two -- Aslam and Hafiz Akbar -- were rushed to Vehari DHQ hospital in a critical condition. The former succumbed to his injuries on Wednesday morning.

Sub-inspector Khizar Hayat who led the police party, told this correspondent that Aslam was involved in six dacoity cases in Karampur police precincts. The body of the dacoit was handed over to the family after postmortem.

Duty official at hospital, Abdul Majeed, was not allowing meeting with Hafiz Akbar. However, Dawn managed to collect some information from the injured dacoit.

Hafiz Akbar said: “I am

a student of madressah`Ziaul Quran’ at Karampur. On Tuesday night, I had made the first attempt of snatching cell phone from a passerby near V Chowk.

My accomplices Haq Nawaz and Punna Baloch who fled from the scene were involved in a few mobile-snatching incidents.

My accomplices used only one pistol in robberies and they are not involved in Karampur and Vehari incidents. We did not open fire on police last night.”

The cell phone of DSP Shahid Niaz was not responding despite repeated attempts.