RAWALPINDI: A man was injured during an armed robbery in Sadiqabad on Monday in which the robbers made away with Rs1.5 million.

A businessman from Satellite Town, 42-year-old Zulfiqar Ahmed was on his way to deposit Rs1.5 million in cash and some cheques in a nearby bank.

The victim’s son, Duraiz Khan told Dawn his father, who deals in auto spare parts, was first intercepted by some men in a car who were joined by two men on motorbikes near a private hospital in Sadiqabad.

“The CCTV footage shows my father walking towards the bank when a white car blocks his way and two motorcycle riders soon appear on the scene and start firing at him,” he said.

He added that the gunmen took his father’s bag containing cash, cheques, credit cards and other documents and sped away.

“Onlookers were terrified, moving rickshaws stopped and passersby lay on the road as the robbers started firing,” Duraiz said, adding that his father was taken to the Benazir Bhutto Hospital where doctors said he is out of danger.

The station house officer visited the hospital and recorded the victim’s statement though the police have been unable to track down the culprits and recover the loot.

The incident happened in an area placed on high alert due to VVIP movement in the garrison city on Monday.

Separately, 42-year-old Arshad Mehmood was killed when he was hit by a passenger train as he was trying to cross the Marrir Chowk railway track on Monday.

Police and rescue services said Arshad died on the spot and that the body was handed over to his family after a post-mortem.

Published in Dawn, February 19th, 2019