LARKANA: Police claimed to have killed a “dacoit” in an encounter on Arija Road on Sunday but the deceased’s family rejected the police claim and said the father of eight was picked up in Karachi and later killed in a staged shootout.

A press release issued by the SSP office said that SHO of Waleed led the encounter and killed the dacoit identified as Abdul Qadir aka Qadiro Tunio, a resident of Bakrani.

It said that the dacoit who was found in possession of a TT pistol was involved in killing a policeman, Mohammad Rafiq Brohi, on Dec 21, 2020 when police were chasing a gang of robbers on Mehrabpur road, 15 kilometres from here. He was also wanted in other cases of similar nature, said police.

The suspected dacoit’s mother and sister told journalists outside the mortuary of Chandka Medical College Hospital where they had arrived to collect the body that the deceased was father of eight children and a mechanic by profession who had shifted to Karachi about a week back.

He was staying with his in-laws in Sachal Goth area were Larkana police tracked him down after tracing his mobile phone. They picked him up and later killed him in the staged encounter, they alleged.

They urged chief justices of Supreme Court and Sindh High Court to order judicial inquiry into the incident and provide them justice.

Meanwhile, the body was handed over to relatives after autopsy and shifted to Gul Mohammad Tunio village for burial.

Published in Dawn, Jannuary 4th, 2021