LAHORE, June 6: Three policemen in police custody on charges of killing an engineering student are said to have confessed to their crime, but they insist that their act was not pre-planned.

“We just fired shots in the air. We did it because the two students on a motorcycle had not stopped at a picket despite being asked,” an investigator quoted the statement given by the three policemen.

On May 29, Rao Zeeshan, 22, an engineering student, together with a friend was on way to his flat when his motorcycle was intercepted by Tiger Squad near Kotha Pind in Faisal Town. The two students accelerated their motorcycle “considering the policemen as robbers.”

The policemen opened fire, causing serious injuries to them. Zeeshan died on way to hospital.

“We never wanted to kill them,” read the statement given by Yasin, Tanvir and Abid, the three police constables who were identified after the incident took place and subsequently taken into custody.

They said that some bullets, not aimed at the motorcyclists, had hit them when their two-wheeler lost balance after hitting a speedbreaker

Besides investigation of the case, a departmental inquiry, too, is under way against the accused policemen.