The family members of a man accused of being a terrorist, gunned down by Karachi police earlier this month, protested after officials refused to hand over his body after they had identified him, DawnNews reported on Friday.

Gul Saeed was allegedly involved in an attack on former senior superintendent of police (SSP) Malir Rao Anwar on January 16, and was one of two militants killed by the police in the 'incident'.

Saeed's family, however, has rejected the claim and insisted that he was a driver who lived in Karachi's Orangi Town.

The man's brother, Mohammad Shoaib, said police had refused to issue a no-objection certificate to the family, demanding that the family bring his national identity card and agree to a DNA test since they have no record of the deceased.

The family, outraged at the demands, took away Saeed's body by force. However, after negotiations with the police, they returned the corpse to the mortuary.

Earlier this month, a suicide bomber had reportedly blown himself up near Anwar's convoy when he was on his way to his house in Malir Cantt. Two other attackers were said to have been killed in 'retaliatory fire' by policemen. The former Malir SSP had remained unhurt.

However, that version of events has been contested since it was uncovered that a separate encounter had been staged in which an innocent man — 27-year-old Naqeebullah Mehsud — had been gunned down on Rao Anwar's watch

An inquiry team of senior police officers probing the alleged extrajudicial killing found that the Waziristan native was killed in a "fake encounter" which was "staged" by Anwar on January 13.

The high-level inquiry committee also concluded that the deceased had no militant tendencies.