KARACHI: A young doctor died of multiple gunshot wounds in a suspected targeted attack near the city’s Mehran Hotel late on Monday night, police said on Tuesday.

Deputy Inspector General (DIG) South Syed Asad Raza told Dawn that Dr Sarang Memon was travelling in a rickshaw along with his wife, also a doctor at a private hospital, on Stadium Road. According to Raza, they were on their way to an apartment near the Karachi Press Club when suspects travelling in a car intercepted them at Dr Dawood Pota Road near Mehran Hotel. They fired multiple shots and fled.

The victim sustained four gunshot wounds and was taken to the nearby Jinnah Postgraduate Medical Centre (JPMC) at 11:30pm, where he succumbed to his injuries during treatment 20 minutes later, said police surgeon Dr Summaiya Syed. One bullet to the chest proved fatal, she added.

The DIG said the Crime Scene Unit had been called to collect evidence from the spot, and that CCTV footage was being collected.

He added that during the initial probe, it was transpired that this was “not a robbery-related murder, apparently a personal enmity”.

Meanwhile, Artillery Maidan police registered a murder case against unknown suspects on the complaint of the victim’s brother, Sarmad Husain.

As per the contents of the FIR, the complainant said he was a teacher by profession in Badin. Quoting the victim’s wife, the complainant said that the couple was on their way home in a rickshaw when suspects blocked their way, calling on the doctor to disembark. The suspects then opened fire and fled, the complainant said.

The victim was associated with a private hospital in Gulistan-i-Jauhar. Friends and relatives shared the tragedy of the late doctor’s family on social media. The deceased originally hailed from Badin district.

One of Dr Sarang’s brothers, who was in his final MBBS year at the Liaquat University of Medical and Health Sciences (LUMHS), had drowned in the Indus river near Al-Manzar Jamshoro, while his other brother was gunned down in Badin district after the assassination of former premier Benazir Bhutto.

Earlier this month, renowned urologist Dr Asif Malik was seriously injured after unidentified assailants opened fire at him in Peshawar’s University Town area, hospital and police officials said.

In March, a dialysis technician identified as Mohammad Arif Wazir was shot dead by unidentified assailants near in the Wana tehsil of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa’s Lower South Waziristan district.

In late February, Dr Mehwish Hasnain was shot dead as she was going home after performing duty at a hospital in Kohat, leading to protests by her colleagues.