KARACHI, Oct 4: Qamar Allah Ditta, a musician who had gone missing on Wednesday night, was found shot dead in his car off Nishtar Road on Thursday, police said.

Associated with the music industry for more than two decades, he was currently engaged in several projects assigned by different television channels and FM radio stations.

The police said that the 46-year-old man, who was also a trustee of Bara Imambargah on Napier Road, had left home on Wednesday evening in his car and remained in contact with the family till 6pm over his cellphone.

He had told his son that he would return after meeting someone on Napier Road.

“Afterwards he was not contacted by anyone and later in the night when the family tried to approach him, his cellphone was switched off,” said ASP Mufakkir Adeel.

“On Thursday morning, his body was found lying on the backseat of his car bearing registration number APH-153. He was hit by two bullets in the head. The police found three spent bullet casings of a 30-bore pistol in the car.”

While the police investigators did not rule out a sectarian motive for the killing, they also suspected personal enmity or involvement of gangsters in the incident.

“It’s quite too early to arrive at a conclusion. The family is also not sure about the people behind the incident but they admit that there were threats to the victim from some criminal gangs operating in the old city areas,” said ASP Adeel.

Father of three, the victim was a resident of New Rizvia Society near Safoora Chowk.

The victim was a younger brother of renowned musician Javed Allah Ditta, the police said.

Young man shot dead

A young man was sprayed with bullets near his residence in the Sultanabad area off Manghopir Road, police said.

They added that 27-year-old Niaz Mehsud was returning home from a nearby market on his motorbike when two men riding a motorbike chased him.

An official at the Manghopir police station quoted eyewitnesses as saying that as he slowed down on a speed hump, one of the riders opened fire on him and fled along with his accomplice.

The official said that the young man sustained 10 gunshot wounds and died on the spot.

The body was later shifted to the Abbasi Shaheed Hospital for medico-legal formalities.