KARACHI: Two minor boys were burnt to death when a fire erupted near a dargah in New Mianwali Colony of Orangi Town on Saturday, police said.

West SSP Suhai Aziz said that some children were playing near the shrine known as Astana-i-Sikandariya while their parents were offering prayers inside it when a fire erupted in wooden matter kept there.

As a result, two boys identified as Mohammed Husain, 4, and Syed Mohammed Shah, 5, suffered critical burns and died on the spot. Their bodies were taken to the Abbasi Shaheed Hospital to fulfil legal formalities.

The SSP said that investigators were ascertaining how the fire broke out there.

Guard found shot dead

A private security guard was found dead with bullet wounds in North Karachi.

Sir Syed SHO Chaudhry Zahid Husain said that the body of the guard, identified as Sada Husain, 25, was found in a home in Sector 11-B.

He said the owners of around 15-20 bungalows had hired services of two private security guards. One of them was performing his duty outside the bungalow while the other, Husain, was inside it.

The guard posted outside told the police that he heard a gunshot and rushed towards the room where he saw his colleague shot dead. The officer said the guard might have committed suicide for some unknown reasons by shooting himself to death. The body was shifted to the Abbasi Shaheed Hospital.

Eight held for bank fraud

Police on Saturday claimed to have arrested seven employees among eight suspects, including two women, on charges of committing fraud in two private bank branches in Gulistan-i-Jauhar and Gulshan-i-Iqbal worth tens of millions of rupees.

According to SSP-East (investigation) Altaf Husain, during an audit of the JS Bank’s branches in Jauhar and Gulshan on Aug 4, it transpired that 19 employees of the two banks had committed fraud by putting artificial gold in lockers. The police registered two FIRs on complaints of two senior officers of the bank and arrested eight persons, seven of them employees of the banks. The officer also claimed to have seized over three kilograms of gold, over Rs2 million cash and four vehicles from their custody.

“The suspects committed fraud worth crores of rupees in an organised manner,” said the officer.

According to contents of the FIR registered at the Sharea Faisal police station, the complainant, general manager Zulfiqar Ali Abidi, said that 28 clients had deposited gold and they had obtained loan amounting to Rs550m. However, when the audit officers of the bank examined the bags, they found that artificial jewellery was kept there. The complainant said that eight nominated employees of the bank with a woman customer had stolen gold ornaments at different times this year and put artificial jewellery there.

Published in Dawn, August 8th, 2021