KARACHI, Feb 3: A young man was shot dead in the Bohra Pir area just two weeks before he was to leave for the UAE for to join his new job, police said on Thursday.

While the police remained clueless about the motive and people behind the killing, they picked up the shop’s owner for questioning where the victim had come to meet his former colleagues.

“Hamid-ur-Rahman, in his mid-20s, was a resident of an apartment on M.A. Jinnah Road and came to a shop in Sheesha Market, where he had worked till a few weeks ago,” said Risala SHO Inspector Faryad Hussain Bhatti.

The youngster was to leave for the UAE soon where he had recently got a job, he said, adding that he visited the shop of his former employer to see his former colleagues in a courtesy call.

The inspector said: “Hamid was sitting with his former employer in the shop when he received a single bullet in the head fired from a close range. However, the shop owner and his ex-colleagues claimed that they only heard the sound of a single gunshot before witnessing him falling to the ground in a pool of blood.”

While quoting witness accounts, he said that it seemed that the youngster was killed by a stray bullet though it had not been established so far. “According to an initial medico-legal examination held at the Civil Hospital Karachi, the bullet was fired from very a close range,” he said. But, he added, the shop was situated in a congested and thickly populated area that made the case complex.

He said the police had handed over the body to the victim’s family after medico-legal formalities.

Man found shot dead A 32-year-old man released from the central prison last month was found shot dead in the Malir River on Thursday, police said.

They added that some children were playing in Jam Goth in the evening when they spotted the body of Mohammad Qasim.

“He was hit by three bullets fired from a very close range,” said an official at the Memon Goth police station.

He said the body was shifted for medico-legal formalities to the Jinnah Postgraduate Medical Centre, where he was identified by his family members. “Qasim was a resident of Shafi Goth in Shah Latif Town and left his home on Wednesday evening to see his friends in Malir,” the official said. He added that the victim was convicted in three cases of drugs and illegal arms and released last month from the central prison.

Teenager killed A teenager released on bail a few days ago in a robbery case was shot dead allegedly by his accomplice over a dispute in Qazzafi Town within the remit of the Shah Latif Town police station, officials said.

They added that 19-year-old Nadim met his alleged aide, Sultan Shah, at a roadside teashop and had an altercation. “The incident occurred on a roadside teashop where more than a dozen people witnessed them fighting,” said DSP Abdul Majeed Rind, the area’s supervisory police officer.

“After a brief scuffle, Sultan Shah pulled out a pistol and fired multiple shots at Nadim, leaving him in a pool of blood.” The body of Nadim was later shifted to the JPMC, the DSP said, adding that the victim was a resident of Zafar Town, a neighbourhood close to the crime-scene.