November 16, 2008	Sunday	Ziqa'ad 17, 1429

KARACHI, Nov 15: An old couple were gunned down in their Gulistan-i-Jauhar house on Saturday. Police suspected the victims might have resisted nearly half a dozen robbers.

The police said at around 5pm people of Bakhtawar Goth in Block 9 of Gulistan-i-Jauhar approached the police station to report that a gunshot had been heard in one of the houses.“The police rushed to the scene and found the bodies of 60-year-old Yar Mohammad and his 55-year-old wife Saleha Khatoon,” said ASI Abid Hussain of the Gulistan-i-Jauhar police station. “The couple, hailing from the NWFP, leave two sons and three daughters, and we have learnt that when the incident took place both of their sons were inside the house, but they raised alarm only after the bandits had run away.”

The bodies of the victims were later moved to the Jinnah Postgraduate Medical Centre, where the doctors found that the couple had been shot from a very close range. The man was hit in the head and his wife received two bullets in the upper torso.

Though the police were convinced it was a robbery attempt, they suspected it was made by people who were known to the deceased couple, which prompted the robbers to kill them.

“We have got some clues and hope to reach a conclusion very soon,” said Sohail Zafar Chatta, SP Gulshan-i-Iqbal Town. “Some of the witnesses have suggested that one of the armed men wore a mask and was seen leaving the area seconds after the incident.”

He said despite the fact that the bandits took away valuables, they shot at the couple and left them dead, which suggested that they feared being identified. The area police said since the family members of the victims were busy with the funeral, they were waiting for the heirs of the deceased couple to lodge an FIR.

Young man killed

In a separate mysterious firing incident, a young passerby was killed in Shah Faisal Colony.

Tabish Muhammad Jamali, 27, was passing through Shah Faisal Colony 3 when armed persons on a motorcycle opened fire while they were being chased by some area people suspecting them to be dacoits.

“To our knowledge, the victim was passing through one of the streets when two armed persons hurried out of a house and got on a motorbike parked outside the house,” said a police officer at the Shah Faisal Colony police station. “After a few seconds, some other people rushed out of the same house and tried to catch hold of the motorcyclists, who opened fire hitting Tabish.”

The police suspected the incident to be a result of a dispute between two families, who were allegedly pretending that it was a robbery attempt and dacoits were fleeing when they opened fire. Later, the body of the victim was moved to the JPMC, where his family members did not allow an autopsy and took away the body without legal formalities.

“We have not yet registered a case as the police have been trying to determine the reason behind the firing incident after lodging the FIR,” added the police official.