HYDERABAD: A suspected criminal impersonating as a practising lawyer in Karachi and Hyderabad was shot dead in an encounter with police on Saturday night in the jurisdiction of the B-Section Latifabad police station.

According to the police, Imtiaz Jatoi had been using his namesake deceased member of the Sindh Bar Council to represent his “clients” in courts initially in Karachi and then in Hyderabad.

He was a hardened criminal, the police said, adding that he was wanted in a number of cases of major and minor dacoities and robberies.

“Two of Jatoi’s gang members managed to flee during the encounter,” a police spokesman said, and claimed that his criminal record showed that he along with his gang members had been committing crimes in different areas of Hyderabad. Jatoi and his gang were involved in five major robberies in the city’s Market, Cantonment, A-Section and B-Section areas, the spokesman said.

Imtiaz Jatoi had been appearing in courts using the identity of his deceased namesake, a Sindh Bar Council member, say police

The police had obtained close circuit television (CCTV) footage of the robberies and Jatoi was clearly identified in the footage, he said.

Giving details, he said that on May 27, Jatoi had robbed a confectionery shop in the limits of the Cantonment police station to loot Rs400,000; he along with his gang members also looted Rs276,000 from another confectionery shop in the limits of the B-Section police; and they looted Rs900,000 from the owner of a dried fruits shop on Nov 26.

Details of 11 FIRs registered against the Jatoi gang in 2007, 2011, 2013, 2014, 2015, 2018 and 2023 were shared by the police of different areas, the spokesman said.

Hyderabad SSP Amjad Ahmed Shaikh, in response to a question, told Dawn on Sunday evening, that Imtiaz Jatoi was in fact acting as his namesake lawyer enrolled with the Sindh Bar Council. “He had been using the name of Karachi-based Advocate Imtiaz Jatoi, son of Inayatullah Suleman, who had already died, for some time.

The killed suspect’s name was Imtiaz, son of Lutuf, the SSP said, adding that he was arrested in Karachi and later released from jail. But he resumed impersonating under the same enrolment particulars in Hyderabad.

SSP Amjad said that during the trial, Jatoi had been declared proclaimed offender by a court in Karachi.

“He kept appearing in courts and committing crimes as well,” the SSP claimed. When police found out that in fact he was a criminal and after his involvement in several back-to-back crimes was proved, the Hyderabad police tightened the noose and finally engaged Jatoi and his two associates which led to an encounter. Jatoi was killed but his associates managed to escape, the spokesman said.

Published in Dawn, December 4th, 2023