KARACHI: Four men were found shot dead on the outskirts of the city on Friday, according to police officials.

The bodies with bullet marks were recovered from an empty plot in Haseeb Jokhio Goth near Steel Town, said Malir SSP Rao Anwar.

The senior officer added that their identity could not be ascertained immediately.

The bodies were shifted to the Jinnah Postgraduate Medical Centre for a post-mortem examination. According to additional police surgeon Dr Kaleem Shaikh, a single bullet was fired at the head of each victim.

Three of the men sported long beards while the fourth one had a trimmed beard. By their appearance, they looked like Pakhtuns, said a Steel Town police officer.

Besides bullet wounds, their hands were also tied. It appeared that they had been kidnapped and killed somewhere else and later on their bodies were thrown at the site as no spent bullet casings were recovered from the crime scene, he added.

The officer said the bodies had been kept at the cold storage of Edhi Foundation for three days for identification.

Meanwhile, a suspect arrested for his alleged involvement in street crimes escaped from the custody of police on Friday in the limits of the Joharabad police while one police officer also ‘absconded’, raising suspicions about his involvement in the accused’s escape, said a senior police officer.

Central SSP Investigation Dr Samiullah told Dawn that two days ago, the suspect, identified as Jaffer, was arrested following an ‘encounter’. He was allegedly involved in street crimes.

He was remanded in police custody and when he was being shifted from Azizabad to Joharabad, he jumped from the police mobile near Liaquat Ali Khan Chowk in Azizabad and fled.

“It appeared that he managed to escape owing to negligence of SHO Shahid and ASI Afzal,” said the senior officer.

He said a case had been registered at Joharabad police station against both officers over charges of negligence. The SHO has been detained while ASI Afzal was an absconder.

The SSP was of the opinion that ‘ostensibly’, Afzal was involved in the incident and efforts were under way to arrest him.

Meanwhile, Sindh Police IG A.D. Khowaja took notice of the incident and directed the DIG West to submit a detailed report in this regard after holding an ‘impartial inquiry’.

Elsewhere, Shah Latif Town police on Friday conducted a raid and recovered a kidnapped child, according to police.

They added that acting on a tip-off, the raid was conducted in Afridi Colony off National Highway at a home during which the child, Sheeraz Ali, was recovered while one suspect, identified as Jehanzeb, was detained.

The police said that the child was kidnapped from the limits of the Korangi Industrial Area around three days ago.

Published in Dawn, January 21st, 2017