KASUR, Sept 11: An alleged robber was shot dead by police in an ‘encounter’ on Tuesday while his two accomplices managed to escape at Harihar village in the limits of Sadar police station.

According to the police, a team headed by SHO Shoukat Ali on a tip-off started chasing three unidentified ‘robbers’ who were allegedly fleeing after snatching a motorcycle from a local at gun point.

The robbers, noticing they were being chased, opened indiscriminate fire on the police team. In retaliatory firing by the police, one of the robbers was killed while his two accomplices managed to escape.

The dead robber was later identified as Tanvir, a proclaimed offender, wanted in several cases of heinous crime, the police claimed.

Some two weeks back, Tanvir, along with an accomplice, had allegedly shot dead a brick kiln worker, suspecting he was a police informer.

The police were conducted raids to arrest the fleeing robbers.

RALLY: Pattoki traders took out a rally and staged a demonstration on Tuesday against what they called failure of police to control street crime and highway robberies in the area.

The protesters led by traders’ union president Rana Mumtaz Ahmed threw traffic out of gear at Kutchery Chowk and chanted slogans against local police.

The traders also observed a token shutter-down strike before taking out the rally from local railway station that concluded at Kutchery Chowk, where they also observed a sit-in.

They said dozens of incidents of street crime and highway robberies had occurred during the last couple of weeks and the police were reluctant to register most of them. They demanded registration of cases and arrest of the criminals.

On assurance of relief by local administration, the agitators dispersed peacefully.