November 18, 2008	Tuesday	Ziqa'ad 19, 1429

KARACHI, Nov 17: A 40-year-old head constable was shot dead on Monday in an attack near Patel Para, police and witnesses said.

The Jamshed Quarter police said that HC Gohar Ali, son of Niaz Ali, was posted as a police mobile van driver with the Brigade police and was returning home on his motorcycle after duty when he was attacked at around 9am.

They said that the victim, a resident of police quarters in Gulbahar, was believed to have been followed by the assailants since he left the Brigade police station in the morning.

The police said that the unidentified occupants of a car intercepted the head constable, father of two, at Patel Para and shot him dead after a brief conversation.They said that the policeman died instantly.

The body was shifted to the Civil Hospital for a postmortem examination. Sources at the hospital’s medico-legal section told Dawn that the victim had been shot a single bullet to his head from a very close range as the bullet went through the skull.

They said that the victim, a native Karachiite, was posted at the Brigade police since 1990.

The SP of the Jamshed Town, Javed Akbar Riaz, told Dawn that the incident seemed to be motivated by a personal enmity.

The police registered a murder case against unknown culprits under Sections 302 and 34 of the Pakistan Penal Code on the complaint of the victim’s brother.

Burnt to death

A 12-year-old disabled girl was burnt to death and her six-year-old sister received critical burns when a fire broke out in their house near Gujjar Dairy Farm at Sindhi Hotel in New Karachi.

The police said that the victims were alone when the fire broke out as their father, a labourer, had been at work and their mother had gone to a neighbour’s house after locking them at the house.

Area people said that the victims’ screams drew their attention and they broke open the door to find Maroof, daughter of Mohammed Saleem, dead and her sister, Hooria, critically injured.

They said the victim’s mother went unconscious when she saw the charred body of one of her daughters and the other with critical burns.

The body and the injured were shifted to the Abbasi Shaheed Hospital where the injured girl was stated to be in a highly precarious condition.

42 vehicles, 47 phones taken away

As many as 42 vehicles – 11 automobiles and 31 motorbikes – and 47 cellular phones were taken away in different parts of the city.

According to the officials at the Citizens-Police Liaison Committee, five cars were snatched at gunpoint in the police precincts of Darakhshan, Frere, Korangi Industrial Area and Sharea Faisal.

They said that six cars were stolen within the police jurisdiction of Steel Town, Ferozeabad, Soldier Bazaar, Saddar, Risala and Preedy.

Besides, the officials said, as many as six motorcycles were snatched at gunpoint in the police limits of Saeedabad, Frere, Gulshan-i-Iqbal, Sharfi Goth and Sir Syed Town.

Moreover, they said, 25 motorcycles were stolen in the police areas of Boat Basin, Darakhshan, Frere, Azizbad, Bahadurabad, Mehmoodabad, Rizvia Society, Sharifabad, Nazimabad, Kalri, Chakiwara, New Karachi, New Karachi Industrial Area, Khawaja Ajmair Nagri, Sir Syed Town, Shahrah-i-Noorjahan, Risala, Nabi Bux, Kharadar, City Courts, Pirabad and Site.

The officials said that as many as 23 mobile phone handsets were snatched in armed hold-ups in different parts of the city. They said that 24 other cellular phone sets were stolen across the city.