KARACHI: Police arrested a key suspect, said to be involved in the lynching of two telecom workers in Machhar Colony, after a shoot-out.

On Oct 27, Engineer Aiman Javed and driver Muhammad Ishaq were beaten to death by a mob on suspicions of being kidnappers. They also torched their company’s vehicle.

The police had launched a door-to-door search in Machhar Colony on the night between Saturday and Sunday for the arrest of those who spread the rumour that led to the killing of the two innocent men.

“During the search operation, criminals opened fire on the police and in the retaliatory action, suspect Muhammad Sharif alias Sharfo, 25, was arrested in an injured condition,” said a police spokesperson.

The police claimed to have recovered one TT pistol from his custody.

Keamari SSP Fida Husain Janwari in a statement said that the held suspect could be seen in video footage of the lynching incident.

Docks SHO Parvez Ali Solangi told Dawn that so far 46 suspects had been arrested, including five nominated in the case.

He said some of them had ‘confessed’ to their involvement in the brutal murder of the two young men and expressed remorse.

Asked about the footage being shared on social media in which policemen were seen present on the scene, the SHO claimed that the police had made efforts to save their life but the mob was so charged that they attacked the law-enforcers.

He said a preliminary probe revealed that the firm’s employees asked some children about directions after they came to the area in their vehicle for checking signals of the mobile phone tower.

The police had registered a murder case under anti-terrorism law against around 200-250 persons.

DIG-South Irfan Ali Baloch also visited the Docks police station late on Saturday night and reviewed the action taken against the suspects in Machhar Colony.

Published in Dawn, October 31st, 2022