RAWALPINDI: A Bykea rider, Alayan Masih, sustained multiple bullet injuries after being targeted ‘mistakenly’ by Dolphin Force personnel soon after he dropped a passenger (suspect) at Farooq-i-Azam Road.

The victim said in a video and statement recorded with the Sadiqabad police as he picked up a passenger from Kuri road and dropped him at Farooq-i-Azam road, when all of a sudden the police appeared on the scene.

On seeing the police, the passenger (suspect) reportedly fired gunshots on police which hit the door of the police van, he said. He said the Dolphin Force personnel responded in the same manner and fired nine gunshots on him, presuming him as an accomplice of the accused (passenger).

He said as he sustained bullet injuries on his legs and thigh during the dolphin force firing, however, he told them that he had no link with that man as he is a Bykea rider. “I was not carrying any weapon as I was a Bykea rider,” he said and added: “They fired gunshots at him from about a distance of four meters.”

He further said that first they fired gunshots on him and then they came close to him. As they came close to him, he told them that he was not with the accused as he was a bykea rider.

Later, the police reinforcements reached the spot and shifted the injured to Benazir Bhutto Hospital (BBH). After the incident came to light, the CPO Rawalpindi ordered an inquiry into the incident and directed the DSP City Division Azhar Hussain Shah to submit a report.

The four dolphin force personnel allegedly involved in the firing were suspended and charged by the CPO Rawalpindi. The injured Alayan was shifted to Benazir Bhutto Hospital (BBH).

According to sources, the suspect (passenger) allegedly fired at a police party was booked by the Sadiqabad police on the charges of attempted kidnapping of a girl. The case was registered against Arslan and two other people on the complaint of the mother of the girl who claimed that he attempted to kidnap away his daughter while they were leaving their house for their native village on chand raat.

She said in the FIR that as they started shouting for help, the police party reached their and on seeing the police Arslan left her daughter and fired gunshots. She further said that due to the firing of Arslan, a man on a motorcycle was injured. The Injured man was identified as Alayan, while Arslan and his accomplice managed to escape by firing gunshots in the air.

Police sources said that later Arslan’s brothers with his lawyer reached the police station to register an FIR but after the police told him that a case of kidnapping had already been registered against him. Provincial Minister Ramesh Singh Arora, has taken notice of the incident of firing allegedly by dolphin force during which Alayan Masih was injured. An Assistant Commissioner Rawalpindi also visited the BBH to inquire about the health of the injured and directed the hospital administration to provide all health facilities to the injured.

Published in Dawn, May 30th, 2026