KARACHI: While the family of a young man killed in the Friday night encounter in Gizri is considering approaching the Sindh High Court to get justice, police on Sunday registered two FIRs against the dead and insisted that the encounter was not fake.

Zakaria, 25, a resident of Lyari, was killed and his friend, Ghulam Azad, wounded in the shootout in the Gizri area.

Sindh Home Minister Sohail Anwar Siyal ordered the Karachi police chief to hold a probe into the allegations of the Zakaria family that he was killed in a fake encounter.

“We are investigating the issue with all possible angles...The report [to be given to the home minister] will be finalised tomorrow [Monday],” said Karachi police chief Mushtaq Mahar.

“Initial findings suggested that it was a genuine encounter...The wounded accomplice of Zakaria was involved in the mugging incident, but we are exploring every possibility with regard to the involvement of Zakaria.”

Investigation Officer Chaudhry Amanat said that no CCTV footage was available at the place where the encounter took place.

However, the police got the CCTV footage of surveillance cameras installed at a nearby house close to the place in Khayaban-i-Rahat, where Zakaria and Azad allegedly deprived a few youths of their cellphones and cash.

The IO said that there was darkness and only the alleged robbery victims were seen sitting in their cars apparently to chase the fleeing suspects.

He said that a total of four cases pertaining to police encounter, attempted murder, possession of illicit weapons and robbery had been registered against the dead and the wounded.

Zakaria was booked in two cases (FIR Nos 2 and 3 of 2016) under Sections 353 (assault or criminal force to deter public servant from discharge of his duty), 324 (attempted murder) of the Pakistan Penal Code and Section 23-A of the Sindh Arms Act 2013.

He said the robbery case was registered on a complaint of Ehsan Aslam, the victim, while the remaining three cases were registered on behalf of the state.

Wounded suspect remanded

Also on Sunday, the police produced wounded Azad before a judicial magistrate (south) and sought his one-day remand.

IO Amanat said the wounded suspect in his statement before the police said that he with Zakaria snatched cellphones and cash from the complainant, Aslam, and his friends when they were sitting outside a house on Street-4 Khayaban-i-Rahat in Defence.

The victims in their two or three cars chased the suspects. In the meantime, a police patrol also joined them in chasing the fleeing suspects. The suspects stopped near a storm-water drain in the Khayaban-i-Jami area and opened fire. The police retaliated and as a result Zakaria and Azad suffered bullet wounds. Azad was shifted to the Jinnah Postgraduate Medical Centre in a police mobile while Zakaria was also sent to the same hospital in another police mobile, said the IO.

The area SHO also submitted a report to the police high-ups regarding the Friday shootout.

He stated that a 9mm pistol, snatched phones and some other articles were seized from wounded Azad. A TT pistol, four cellphones and Rs200 were found on Zakaria, he added.

The SHO claimed that the complainant, Aslam, “identified the accused persons and also identified his property which was recovered from the possession of the accused persons”.

Brother finds loopholes in police story

Bilal, brother of the deceased, told Dawn over phone on Sunday that the police earlier claimed that they followed the motorcyclists when they were informed about the robbery by Aslam and others who were chasing them in their cars. But now, the police claim that they saw the two on a motorbike roaming in a “suspicious condition”.

Quoting the recorded statement of wounded Azad aired by various television channels, Bilal said that if there were four suspects then as to why Azad did not give their names in his statement. “If there were four suspects, why the police killed only my brother,” he said.

Rejecting the police’s claim, Bilal demanded a judicial probe into the incident.

He said their demand pertained to the removal of the policemen involved in the encounter. “The robbery charges against my brother must be withdrawn.”

He said that relatives and neighbours would hold a protest demonstration at the Karachi Press Club on Monday (today).

He said the family was also considering filing a petition before the Sindh High Court if their demands were not met.

Published in Dawn, January 4th, 2016