MUZAFFARGARH: A suspected robber allegedly died due to severe torture by a mob, while his two accomplices were seriously injured, after the three armed suspects shot a trader dead and wounded three persons during a robbery at a grocery store at Loharwala in Khangarh area on Monday.

As per police sources, three armed suspects arrived at a grocery store in Loharwala, owned by one Akram Bhatti, located 25km from city area.

As the suspects started collecting cash, the store owner offered resistance to them. At this, the suspects opened indiscriminate fire, killing Bhatti on the spot and seriously injuring three others --Nazir, Hanif and Shabbir.

As the suspects attempted to escape, locals overpowered them.

Two ‘accomplices’ critically injured by enraged mob

The enraged mob then subjected the three suspects to severe torture, leaving them critically injured.

A police team, arriving at the scene, took the critically injured suspects into custody and shifted them to hospital, where one of them, identified asGhulam Rasool alias Pilli, succumbed to his injuries.

The two other suspects, identified as Akhtar and Murtaza, were being treated at the hospital.

Following the murder of the shopkeeper, scores of locals blocked the National Highway for traffic in protest against the rising crime in the area.

Because of the protest, long queues of vehicles were witnessed on both tracks of the main road.

Khangarh police have registered the case against the suspects, after shifting the trader’s body to hospital where autopsy was conducted.

Published in Dawn, October 29th, 2024