HYDERABAD: Relatives of a police firing victim, along with their neighbours, held a press conference at the local press club and and staged a demonstration outside alleging that the Phulleli police were trying to hush up the case and harassing them to get the FIR withdrawn.

They urged the chief justice of Pakistan to take suo motu notice of the alleged murder.

The victim, Amjad Ali Bhurgari, a local government employee, was killed when Ghulam Mohammad Memon, one of the two policemen on duty near the Hyderabad railway station, opened fire during an attempted mugging on July 11.

According to Aqil Samoon, a friend of the deceased, he and Mr Bhurgari were passing through the area on a motorcycle when two armed men riding another motorcycle tried to mug them. He said he grabbed the gun of one of the muggers, who sensed danger after noticing the presence of the two policemen near the scene. As soon as they fled the scene, the policeman opened fire, Mr Samoon claimed. However, policeman Memon insisted he fired at the muggers only when one of them fired at him.

Memon was booked in the case after the bereaved family members and their neighbours carrying the body held a protest at the Hyderabad SSP office soon after the incident.

Ghulam Hussain Bhurgari, the first cousin of the firing victim, told a press conference on Monday that investigation officer Sabir Gadhi was not cooperating with them.

He apprehended that the police were trying to dispose of the case in Class-C, and alleged that they were threatening the bereaved family with dire consequences if the case was not withdrawn.

Published in Dawn, July 29th, 2014