RAWALPINDI: Two male ‘witches’ were gunned down by unidentified individuals at their place of work near the Committee Chowk underpass on Wednesday, police officials said.

Ghulam Raza, 60, and his nephew Javaid Iqbal, 45, had been practicing witchcraft in a rented double-storey building for 10 years.

Both the men, who lived in Dhoke Khabba, used to arrive at their workplace at 7am and return home at 6pm.

On Tuesday Raza’s wife grew worried when she couldn’t contact her husband, who had not returned home after nightfall.

“She tried to contact her husband on his mobile phone, and waited for him for a few hours, but finally asked her brother-in-law, Qasir Abbas, to visit Raza’s workplace,” the investigating police officer said, adding that after searching the neighbourhood and speaking to relatives, Qasir went to Raza’s workplace to find the door open.

The officer said Abbas found both men lying in the room where they attended to clients. The victims were moved to the District Headquarters (DHQ) Hospital, where they were pronounced dead. The official said everything inside the building was intact and untouched by the perpetrators.

“It looked as if both victims were targeted from a close range, and were killed on the stop,” he said, adding that there were no signs of resistance.

He said although the victims’ families claimed they had no enmity with anyone, the police intended to investigate clients of the deceased. Police said a murder case has been registered with the city police, and an investigation is underway.

Published in Dawn, September 17th, 2015

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