BADIN, June 15: A strike was observed in Lawari on Tuesday in protest against the Kudhan police after the killing of an alleged criminal by policemen.

A police party went to arrest Mohammad Panah Junejo and his cousin Ameen Junejo in a case of buffalo theft registered on the complaint of a peasant of an influential landlord.

The accused reportedly offered resistance and in the ensuing firing by police, Mohammad Panah was killed on the Nindo-Lowari road near his village. Raising slogans against police, the villagers, carrying the body, blocked the road by staging a sit-in.

Later, the DPO reached the place and villagers handed over the body to police on the assurance that justice would be done the villagers. The mother of the deceased, Rahiman, demanded registration of a criminal cases against the policemen involved in the incident.

When contacted, DPO Mumtaz Junejo said that Ameen and Panah had been involved in more than a dozen criminal cases, including that of the buffalo theft. He added that the buffalo had been recovered by the police from the house of Ameen on Monday.

The DPO claimed that on Tuesday, the accused blocked the Nindo-Lowari road with the intention to commit some crime. On receiving the information, he added, a police party reached there and engaged the Junejos in an encounter resulting in the death of Panah.