KARACHI, May 21: A police official who had taken part in the infamous Karachi operation was shot dead by unidentified gunmen in Orangi Town on Saturday. Police said that Rao Akhtar, associated with the Crime Investigation Department (CID), was going to drop his two sons, Shoaib, 8, and Hannan, 6, at their school when he was intercepted in Haryana Colony, Orangi Town, by two assailants on a motorbike. They fired a single bullet, which pierced through his head, and escaped. Rao died on the spot and his children suffered minor injuries when the motorbike fell on the ground.

Police said that Rao Akhtar had been posted in Liaquatabad when the Karachi operation had been carried out.

A police official said that he had played a low-key role in the operation as he was an educated man, mostly looking after paper work.

Many years back, he had arrested three suspected accomplices of notorious criminal Rehman Dakait in a raid. The suspects were released on bail about a week back. The police believed that they might have been behind his murder.