HYDERABAD: Two per­sons were shot dead in a targeted attack by assai­lants riding a motorcycle at Guru Nagar Chowk, within the jurisdiction of the Phulelli police station, on Monday afternoon. The culprits managed to escape after committing the crime.

Deceased Ali Mohammad Sha­ikh, 55, and Arif Saeed Qure­shi had boarded a taxi at Faqir ka Pir Chowk appa­rently for Gharib Nawaz bridge (commonly known as Naya Pull). Two armed men riding a motorcycle inter­cepted it at Guru Nagar Chowk and fired shots at the two passengers from point-blank range, shopkeepers in the area told police.

Shaikh died on the spot and Qureshi was pronou­nced dead on arrival at the Liaquat University Hospital (LUH), city branch.

Qureshi is said to be a resident of Shahdadpur in Sanghar district and had been temporarily residing in Phulelli’s Sunar Gali locality.

Sheikh was a dis­pen­ser at a dis­pen­sary of the Hyderabad district council.

The Phulelli SHO quoted the LUH medico-legal offi­cer as saying that Sheikh received one bullet wound and Qureshi multiple bullet wounds. “There was no camera installed near the scene of the offence. How­ever, a video recorded in a camera installed paces away from that spot has been obtained. This proba­bly can lead us to assailants,” he said.

The police officer said that the taxi driver shared only basic information about the incident.

The bodies were later handed over to the heirs and no FIR of the incident was registered till late in the evening.

The police were of the view that the heirs might approach them for lodging a case after burial.

Missing girl, boy recovered

After three days of hectic efforts, the Matiari police succeeded in recovering a girl, claimed to be 11 years old, and a boy after they had gone missing in the early hours of Friday.

The girl’s family lives in Ansari Mohalla of Hala and that of the boy in Pir Bux Goth of Bhitshah.

Traders observed a shutter-down in Bhitshah and Hala on Monday amid tension caused by the disappearance of the young girl, belonging to the Hindu community.

The girl’s brother had lodged an FIR against five suspects, including the boy, accusing them of having kidnapped her. Four of the suspects were taken into custody.

Matiari SSP Zahid Shah said on Monday that the after recovering them, the girl and boy were in police custody and would be produced in court, probably on Tuesday.

Earlier, police sources had quoted initial investi­gation to suggest that both of them had left for Karachi at around 3.30am on Friday and after spending a day there, they returned to Hyderabad, where the boy threw away his SIM (subs­criber identity module).

“There is no record about them available with the National Database & Regis­tration Authority (Nadra),” they said. Hyderabad DIG Naeem Shaikh told repor­ters in Matiari earlier in

the day that to police, it was a kidnapping case because the girl was underage and, as such, did not enjoy free will.

Published in Dawn, October 23rd, 2018

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