GUJRAT: A prisoner who was convicted of the assassination of former Punjab Law Minister Chaudhry Muhammad Farooq was killed, according to police claims, by his own accomplices during an encounter with police when he was being shifted to the jail after a court appearance on Thursday.

The deceased was identified as Aurangzeb while the police found another body allegedly of his accomplice (unidentified) along with his dead body.

A spokesman for Gujrat police claimed that Aurangzaib alias Ranga, a fugitive with the head money of Rs0.5m, was convicted by an anti-terrorism court of Gujranwala for involvement in the murder of the former minister as well as a number of other murders and heinous crimes. He had fled from the Kot Lakhpat Jail in 2012 and was arrested by the police a few days back. The police produced him before a court in Sara-i-Alamgir and when the prison van was on its way back to Gujrat, some assailants ambushed it in the Rakh Pabbi Sarkar area between Kharian and Sara-i-Alamgir and got Aurangzaib freed. They disappeared in the forest and the police besieged the vicinity.

Later, an encounter started between the criminals and the police. At the end of the encounter, the police found two bodies, including that of Aurangzaib, in the forest. They claimed that both the deceased were killed in firing by their own accomplices.

Published in Dawn, February 15th, 2019