LAHORE: The Liaquatabad police have registered a cross version case against four personnel of the Dolphin Force for allegedly killing a suspected abductor in an encounter.

The case was lodged against the policemen hours after registration of an FIR against the four suspects including the young man who was killed in the ‘police encounter’ on Akbar Shaheed Road early on Tuesday.

Identified as Jahangir, the deceased was a salesman by profession and the Dolphin Force personnel claimed that he had first shot at them and was killed when fire was returned in defence. While the deceased’s family declared the police claim false saying that the Dolphin Force policemen unprofessionally handled the incident, opened fire in haste and killed Jahangir in a staged encounter.

Officials claim the deceased abducted a woman, opened fire on police

The video clips of statement of the woman allegedly kidnapped by the four persons, the CCTV footage of encounter and the statement of the rickshaw driver created confusion regarding the incident.

Sharing police assertion, a spokesperson for the Dolphin Force said that the woman made a call on 15 for help saying that four persons including Jahangir had kidnapped her with an intention to rape her. She said that they were taking her by an auto rickshaw to a deserted road to commit crime.

The spokesperson said the four Dolphin Force personnel rushed to the site and rounded up the suspects. He said three of them fled the scene while Jahangir who was carrying weapon fired at the policemen who after a brief chase rounded him up in a street.

The police returned the fire when he tried to take an aim to target one of the policemen, he said, adding that the woman confirmed the incident as reported by the Dolphin policemen.

The Liaquatabad police registered a case.

However, he said, a cross version FIR had also been lodged when family of the killed man raised doubts on the assertion of the police personnel of the Dolphin Force.

Meanwhile, the CCTV footage of the incident showed one of the policemen fired shot when the suspect was lying helpless in the street.

Published in Dawn, December 16th, 2020