SUKKUR: The Jaco­babad police on Friday claimed to have shot dead a ‘serial killer’ in an encounter within the limits of the C-Section police station of Thull taluka.

SSP Mohammad Kaleem Malik told the media that the area police were given strict directives to trace out and arrest the culprit who had slit throats of two youths on Friday-Saturday night while leading them to Jacobabad to get them employment. One of the two youths, Mohammad Zahid, had died when locals and police reached the specified site, Jummo Dakhan village, to rescue them. The other victim, Mohammed Salman is in a critical condition at the Chandka Medical College Hospital.

The SSP claimed that a police team led by C-Section SHO Mashooq Ali Jakhrani carried out an intelligence-based action within Thull town when the suspect, Naseer alias Saleem alias Todo Malik, was found hiding there. The suspect was asked to surrender before police but he opened fire, which was returned, the SSP said, adding that he was finally killed in the encounter.

“Todo Malik was a serial killer and wanted by police in several cases of kidnapping, criminal assault and murder,” the officer claimed, but could not specifically mention any other such case involving the killed suspect, who was a resident of Kandhkot.

The area police were earlier quoted as revealing that no fewer than five such incident had taken place lately in this area.

According to the SSP, Todo used to trap youths in Karachi and other cities by offering them help in getting jobs in Jacobabad, Kandhkot-Kashmore and other upper Sindh areas. He would then bring them to Thull and subject them to sexual assault, the officer said, and added that he would kill the youths if they dared to put up resistance.

Todo’s body was handed over to his mother after a post-mortem examination at the Thull Taluka Hospital.

It may be recalled here that the two chained youths, Mohammad Zahid, 20, a resident of Chakwal, and Mohammad Salman, 25, a resident of Multan, were found lying in a pool of blood with their throats slit on a road near Jummo Dakhan village. Locals alerted the area police who rushed them to the taluka hospital where Zahid was pronounced dead on arrival. Salman was later shifted to Larkana’s CMC Hospital in a critical condition.

Zahid’s father, while receiving his son’s body from the taluka hospital, said that he was a street vendor having his livelihood in Karachi. He said that a friendly man, Mohammed Ali, who had been frequently visiting him, had offered a job for his son. He said he called out his son from Chakwal and asked him to go with Mohammad Ali. Only the next night, he added, the tragic incident was conveyed to him.

Published in Dawn, July 26th, 2025