LAHORE, Sept 10: Three alleged robbers were killed and an ASI injured in two police ‘encounters’ in the provincial capital on Monday.

Police shifted the bodies for autopsy and registered three cases in respective police stations.

In the first incident, two suspected robbers were killed in a shootout with the Factory Area police near Civil Services Academy, Walton, in early hours.

Station House Officer Rashid Amin Butt told Dawn he along with his subordinates was present at a picket on the CSA Road around 2:30am when the police signalled two motorcyclists coming from Walton Road to stop for checking.

He said the suspects opened fire on the police and attempted to escape. The SHO said some bullets hit the police vehicle, but the suspects fell on the ground after their bike slipped.

He said policemen returned fire and managed to kill the suspects on the spot.

The SHO claimed that a bullet fired by the suspects just passed through his clothes and he escaped unhurt.

He said the victims were later identified as 32-year-old Rommel Masih of Shahdara and 40-year-old Qavi of Kot Lakhpat.

Butt said police record showed that both the suspects had killed people on resistance and committed several robberies in the city.

Police seized two weapons and the motorcycle the suspects had snatched in Chungi Amar Sidhu from Ejaz of Ghaffar Street (Sandah) a few minutes before the encounter.

In the second incident, an alleged robber in his 30s was killed and an ASI injured in a crossfire between a Batapur police team and suspects near Mian Chowk in Green Town.

Cantonment SP (Operations) Maroof Safdar Wahla said the Batapur SHO along with his subordinates raided a Hunjarwal locality on the indication of his informer to arrest a group of robbers.

He said police managed to arrest three robbers, including a woman, but their three accomplices managed to flee on a car.

Police started chasing the vehicle. The suspects opened fire on police vehicle near Mian Chowk. TASI Israr Ahmad suffered a bullet injury to his leg and a robbery suspect was also wounded by police firing.

The SP said police managed to arrest two other car riders and shifted the injured to Jinnah Hospital where the robbery suspect succumbed to his wounds.

Wahla said police shifted five robbers, who were wanted by the Cantonment division police in a number of cases, to the police station.

SHOT DEAD: A man in his 30s was shot at and killed by unidentified motorists outside his rented house in Rustam Park.

Gulshan-i-Ravi police said Muhammad Abbas was getting his luggage loaded on a truck to shift it to another house at the time of the incident. The suspects fled the scene.

Abbas, father of a daughter, worked in a pharmaceutical company.

The police said investigation had been launched to determine the motive for the shooting.

ROBBERY: Five robbers barged into the house of Mehboob Khan in Nawab Town police limits, held all family members at gunpoint and made off with Rs300,000 worth of cash, 23-tola gold ornaments, 11 cell phones and prize bonds.