KARACHI, Sept 18: Bandits shot dead a man on Saturday near the Mazar-i-Quaid and fled with his mobile phone. Witnesses said two bandits had intercepted a motorcyclist and tried to snatch his cell phone. But on resistance, the bandits shot him dead and fled with the phone.

However, police claimed that according to the wallet found in the victim's pocket, he was identified as Kashif Salman, 30, and employed in a textile factory. The victim was on his way home in Nazimabad at the time incident. His autopsy report says that a bullet had pierced through the arm and hit the heart killing him on the spot.

Sources said police tried to portray the killing as an outcome of personal enmity because they had failed in controlling the increasing robberies.

Police sources said that a significant rise in robberies had been witnessed in the past some months. On Saturday alone, 13 robbery cases were reported in different police stations of the city.

They claimed that in many cases people did not report to police. Street robberies ran higher than those reported to the police, they added.