HYDERABAD: A 12-year-old boy who was seriously wounded in crossfire bet­ween police and alleged criminals and their supporters in Gujrati Para on Thursday night died early on Friday morning at a Karachi hospital while the victim’s relatives alleged the boy was hit by the bullet fired by police.

The victim Mohammad Zubair’s relatives and neighbours staged a sit-in on the SP Chowk after Friday prayers along with the boy’s body but they dispersed peacefully after police officials assured them of justice.

Later, Tando Yousuf police registered a case filed by the boy’s father Moham­mad Shakeel under Sections of 302, 324 and 34 PPC against the SHO of Tando Yousuf police station, Ghulam Mustafa Leghari, police constables Liaquat Ali and Mehmood.

According to police, when SHO Leghari along with the two police constables raided Gujrati Para near railway crossing on Thursday night to arrest an alleged criminal Abbas Ali alias Moni, the criminal was in the midst of a clash with his relatives.

But the moment they saw police, Moni and his supporters opened fire on them, police returned fire and four people, including 12-year-old Mohammad Zubair, Ish­ti­a­que, Yameen, Arslan and Ali Raza suffered wounds after they were caught up in crossfire, said police.

The wounded were shifted to the Liaquat University Hospital while Zubair was taken to Karachi because if his serious condition. Zubair, a student of hifz, was hit in the chest and died from his wounds while the other wounded were stated to be stable.

Police had registered a case on Thursday night on a complaint lodged by SHO Ghulam Mustafa Leghari under Sections of 324, 353, 147, 148 and 149 of the PPC against Abbas Ali alias Moni, Ishtiaque, Saleem, Aijaz and Haider.

The SHO, meanwhile, said that no arrest had been made so far while SSP Irfan Ali Baloch had confirmed Moni’s arrest on Thursday night.

Published in Dawn, August 29th, 2015

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