ISLAMABAD, July 19: The Supreme Court was informed on Friday that four Rangers personnel had been booked for shooting to death an unarmed taxi driver in Karachi’s Gulistan-i-Jauhar area on Tuesday. They have been handed over to police.

A three-judge bench headed by Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry has taken notice of the killing of Murid Abbas who was killed when he allegedly failed to stop his taxi when Rangers signalled to do so.

Advocate Shahid Bajwa, representing Rangers, said the paramilitary force felt sorry for such incidents. A case has been registered against the personnel on the complaint of the widow of the driver and a joint team has been constituted to investigate the matter. The inquiry will be completed as early as possible.

“We had to take action when disciplined forces like Rangers do such things,” the chief justice said. He asked why the case had been lodged on behalf of the driver’s wife who was not a witness to the murder. It should have been done by the director general of Rangers.

Justice Sheikh Azmat Saeed asked the counsel to advise his client to read a few books, especially on the strife in Ireland. Incidents like the killing of the taxi driver never helped efforts to control law and order, he said.

About a similar incident in which Rangers personnel had gunned down one Ghulam Haider in Shah Faisal Colony on June 4, the court was informed that the case was under trial.

Haider, 30, reportedly hit a motorcyclist and was trying to stop the vehicle when a Rangers’ man opened fire at him. The man who had got married only 20 days earlier was hit by a single bullet in the head. He died on the spot.

The court directed the prosecutor general of Sindh to provide details of the case to Attorney General Muneer A. Malik.

The case will be taken up on July 26.