RAWALPINDI, Feb 21: Five police officials were booked after a bullet reportedly fired by one of them during night patrolling in the Banni area hit a pedestrian injuring him critically, police said on Monday.

The injured was screaming with pain on the road when a taxi driver took him to Benazir Bhutto Hospital from where he was shifted to the District Headquarters (DHQ) Hospital at around 4am.

Farhan, a goldsmith, was going home after closing his shop when he found a policeman standing near a private car at the corner of a street and a police van with five officials on board parked on the other side of the road. He said the policeman standing at the corner fired a gunshot that hit him.

Sub-Inspector Sadaqat Ali, who is leading the investigation into the incident, said a case was registered on the complaint of the victim's father. Farhan told his father that he could identify the policeman who had fired the gunshot.

Talking to Dawn , the victim's father said he was at home when he received a telephone call at 4am from the DHQ hospital saying his son had been brought to the hospital with a bullet injury.

He said on reaching the hospital, he found his son lying on a bed and screaming with pain. The injured told his father that he was returning home when the policeman opened fire injuring him and then put him into the police van and drove off.

“Instead of taking my son to hospital, they cruelly threw him out of their van and also used abusive language on seeing him bleeding,” the father of the injured said.

He said his son was carrying about Rs7,000 in cash, a cellphone and the keys of his shop when the incident occurred. “I don't know where the cash and his cellphone have gone,” he said.

He said some policemen visited his house to record the statement but they were told to wait till the condition of his son improved as right now he was in a condition critical.

He said the station house officer (SHO) had promised that he would produce the accused policeman within three days.