Police on Sunday launched an investigation into the murder of a young man who was gunned down by robbers in Gulshan-i-Iqbal the previous day.
Itteqa Moeen, a 27-year-old gold medalist mechanical engineer and Hafiz Quran, was killed on Saturday by gunmen who took away his motorcycle, cell phone and other valuables.
The incident angered opposition parties who demanded a grand operation against dacoits in Karachi and an ending of the “politicisation of police” to restore peace.
Gulshan-i-Iqbal police have registered a case under sections 302 (premeditated murder), 397 (robbery or dacoity) and 34 (common intention) of the Pakistan Penal Code against unknown robbers-cum-killers on the complaint of the victim’s brother Usman Moeen.
Special Investigation Unit’s SSP Adeel Husain told Dawn.com that a spent bullet casing fired from a 9mm pistol and CCTV footage of the incident had been obtained by the investigation team.
Investigation Officer Rana Shaukat disagreed with the family’s version that Itteqa had not put up any resistance but was still killed. He said CCTV footage showed that the victim had put up “some resistance” in front of the robbers.
Meanwhile, East-SSP Dr Farrukh Raza, while taking notice of the murder, suspended Gulshan-i-Iqbal SHO Abdul Rasool Bughio and ordered a departmental inquiry against him over failure to control crimes.
The victim’s elder brother Ebad Moeen told the media that his brother was a gold medalist who was doing his MBA from the Institute of Business Administration.
He said his brother — who got married last year — had gone to the market when he met the traffic incident.
Ebad said his brother had not put up any resistance to the robbers, contrary to what the police had claimed.
“They kill the people at their will whether the citizens put up resistance or not,” Ebad said.
The funeral for the young man was held at a local mosque in Gulshan, which was attended by relatives and notables.
MQM-P’s opposition leader in the Sindh Assembly, Ali Khursheedi, said that another tragedy had struck Karachi, adding that “these killings” had been going on for decades given that the government’s performance had dropped to “zero” over time.
He said that in the past, the citizens were being robbed only but now they were murdered as well.
He claimed that in recent months, around 60 people have been gunned down by robbers in the city as the Sindh government was ‘passive’ about these killings.
“Sindh government’s performance is zero,” he said.
He said street crimes have increased as chief minister Sindh had “failed” while there was also a question mark on the performance of the federal government to this effect.
The MQM-P leader said that an “ethnic card” was being played in Karachi as the Sindh government was “settling non-locals” in the city.
