RAWALPINDI, Jan 23: A man allegedly involved in the murder of six people, including four brothers, in the city about five months back was gunned down during an exchange of fire with the police here early Wednesday.

However, his two accomplices escaped, said the police.

“Waheed Qureshi was wanted in connection with the murder of the six people at Gulistan Colony on August 9, 2012. He had been hurling threats on the complainant and the main eyewitness of the case,” said Police Inspector Raja Shakeel, who was leading the investigation into the murder case.

The exchange of fire between the police and the suspected killer started at around 6.45am when on a tip-off the police raided an abandoned house at Katarian in the limits of Saddar Barooni police. The wanted man was hiding there along with two of his accomplices, said the police official.

He said the police surrounded the house and warned the inmates to surrender. However, the suspect opened fire from inside the house.

The police lobbed tear gas shells into the house to force the inmates to surrender but to no avail. Some of the bullets fired from inside also hit the police van and damaged its windscreen. However, none of the policemen was injured, he added.

In retaliation, the police also opened fire into the premises. During the shoot-out, the two accomplices of the wanted man escaped from the rear of the building. When the firing stopped, the police entered the house and found the wanted man dead.

“The body of the suspect was partly burnt and a Kalashnikov along with some bullets was recovered from the house,” said Inspector Shakeel.

The body was taken to the District Headquarters Hospital for postmortem which would be carried out by a medical board.

According to police sources, Waheed Qureshi had been associated with the family of a political leader as a security guard and was involved in a number of crimes.

The four brothers, who were settled in Kuwait, had come to Rawalpindi to spend Ramazan and celebrate Eidul Fitr with their families when they were killed. A few days before the incident, some children belonging to the families of the four brothers and a nephew of the suspected killer had quarreled with each other during a football match in the nearby Ayub Park.

According to relatives of the victims, the brothers - Suleman Qureshi, 52, Pervez, 50, Javaid, 42, and Aurangzeb, 37, - along with Adnan Qureshi, 20, son of Pervez, and their nephew Nadeem, 22, left their house after receiving a call from their relative Waheed Qureshi, who had asked them to come to his house to settle the dispute.

As they were heading towards Waheed’s house located in Shah Chan Chiragh Mohallah, Gulistan Colony, they came across Waheed and his accomplices at the end of the street where they started quarreling.

Waheed and his nephews opened fire on Javaid and his brothers killing five of them on the spot. Javaid later succumbed to his injuries at the District Headquarters Hospital. Of the 14 suspects in the case, 10 had already been arrested while Waheed had been declared a proclaimed offender (PO).