KARACHI: Police on Friday launched an inquiry into the death of a teenage girl in Karachi’s Landhi area, who was struck and killed by a stray bullet while travelling in a rickshaw. Her relatives alleged that she was killed in the crossfire of a gunfight between police and suspected robbers.

Landhi Station House Officer (SHO) Salahuddin Qazi told Dawn that a 17-year-old resident of the Lines Area had accompanied her mother to visit a relative in Landhi.

She was returning home in a rickshaw when a bullet passed through the vehicle and struck her in the chest. She sustained critical wounds and was transported to Jinnah Postgraduate Medical Centre (JPMC), where doctors pronounced her dead.

The victim’s uncle told media persons at the hospital that his niece was gunned down during crossfire between police and suspects in the area.

Police surgeon Dr Summaiya Syed told Dawn that the girl was dead on arrival at the hospital and added that her family did not permit any medico-legal procedures and took the body.

Inquiry ordered

Taking notice of the incident, Korangi Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP) Fida Husain Janwari set up an inquiry committee led by Landhi Deputy Superintendent of Police (DSP) Faiza Sodhar and comprising the Landhi and Awami Colony SHOs.

“The committee has been directed to conduct a thorough and transparent inquiry about the incident and submit a report immediately,” a police spokesperson said in a statement.

The statement added that personnel from Awami Colony police station chased a group of suspects who allegedly committed a robbery outside a bank in the Korangi area. The suspects allegedly resorted to indiscriminate firing on the police team.

The police continued chasing the suspects, wounding one of them in the gunfight, while his accomplice managed to escape. Police recovered a pistol and a mobile phone from the wounded suspect.

According to the statement, police later received information that the teenager was shot and injured in the gunfight.

Landhi SHO Salahuddin Qazi, who is also a member of the inquiry team, told Dawn that the initial probe revealed a discrepancy in timing between the two incidents.

He explained that the girl sustained a “straight bullet wound” at around 11:30am, while the Awami Colony SHO claimed that the encounter took place around 1pm.

Police also claimed that the deceased girl’s uncle, in a written statement, told the police and doctors that “this was an incident”, adding that they did not want any legal proceedings.

This is not the first instance of a bystander getting killed in the crossfire between police and criminals. Last October, two passersby were killed in a crossfire between two groups that clashed at Khyber Chowk in Karachi’s Ittehad Town area.

South Deputy Inspector General (DIG) Syed Asad Raza told Dawn that armed men from the Mehsud and Afridi tribes fired on each other after a quarrel between their children.

The officer said that the passersby were wounded in the crossfire and were rushed to Dr Ruth Pfau Civil Hospital, where they succumbed during treatment.