FAISALABAD: A man who allegedly shot at and injured a police constable was later gunned down by a policeman in civvies, who could apparently have nabbed him alive.

The incident was highlighted after some TV channels aired a footage of the ‘encounter’ that happened near the Milaad Road in Gulberg police limits on Tuesday. Police claimed the deceased, identified as Asif of Gujranwala, who was riding a motorcycle with an unidentified pillion, was signaled to stop at a picket near a petrol pump. Instead of following the signal, the bike rider opened fire on the police and sped away.

The police claimed a constable, Waseem, received a bullet injury on a finger of his hand.

The police started chasing the fleeing suspects. When the bikers reached near Milaad Road, one of them managed to escape, while the other was asked to surrender, the police said, claiming that he again shot at them (police).

Ashiq Ali, an eyewitness, told Dawn that the policemen had asked the people present on the spot to move to safe places. He said first a policeman fired a single bullet on the suspect after which another in civvies opened fire on the man who was lying on the footpath.

He said the police could have arrested the suspect alive instead of killing him.

He said some of the locals wanted to volunteer and catch the suspect alive, but the policemen harshly told them to “keep out of it”.

Sources said the policeman in civvies, who could be seen shooting the suspect in the footage, was identified as an assistant sub-inspector of the Gulberg police.

Police said the body of the suspect had been shifted to morgue for the postmortem examination.

Published in Dawn, November 8th, 2017