KASUR: A robbery suspect who had escaped from police custody on Saturday night was killed during an alleged encounter near Garaywala village, Mandi Usmanwala police claimed on Monday.

The accused was identified as Abuzar and his accomplices, police claimed, had helped him escape after attacking the police near Bahadarpura bridge on Depalpur Road in the Saddar police area.

The story of the encounter that police told follows the same pattern that has become a routine regarding encounters in which accused and suspects are being killed across Punjab on almost a daily basis.

According to police, Mandi Usmanwala police had erected a picket near Garaywala village. Police signaled four suspects on two motorcycles to stop. Instead of stopping, they opened indiscriminate fire at the police that was retaliated. The suspects took shelter in nearby fields and continued fire at police.

When the guns went silent, police recovered an injured person who they identified as Abuzar.

Police claimed they were taking Abuzar to the district headquarters hospital but he succumbed to his injuries on the way. Police also said the suspected robber was killed by his own accomplices while trading fire with police though they did not tell how it was determined that Abuzar was killed in firing by his accomplices and it was not the police bullets that had killed him.

Police claimed Abuzar was wanted in over 20 cases registered with Lahore and Kasur police.

Earlier after Abuzar’s arrest, police had taken his physical remand from a local court.

Meanwhile, Ganda Singh police claim to have arrested two accused who had escaped from police custody after breaking the lock-up.

Some one week back, Khudian police had handed over two gunmen suspected to be burglars to Ganda Singh police for interrogation.

Suspects Usman and Faheem had managed to break one of the walls of the lock-up.

The Kasur district police officer had suspended two policemen and constituted a team for the arrest of the accused.

Ganda Singh police arrested the two suspects from Pattoki on Monday.

Published in Dawn, October 25th, 2016