LAHORE, July 25: Three brothers were gunned down by eight people on the issue of money for sand lifting near Niaz Baig in Hanjarwal on Wednesday morning, police and witnesses said.

One of the attackers, Amanat Masih, was also injured in the firing of his own fellows.

Family and relatives of the deceased blocked the road outside the Hanjarwal police station by keeping bodies on the road. Traffic remained disrupted for 45 minutes, a witness told Dawn.

The first information report states accused Aslam Bhatti alias Achha, and accomplices shot dead Imran, 26, Attiq, 24, and Nabeel Haider, 22, for not giving them money for lifting sand from their land.

Aslam charged tractor-trolleys lifting sand along the Ravi.

Sabzazar supervisory police officer Ashaq Ali Jutt told Dawn Aslam’s employees Nazir and others beat his driver Arshad, alias Bao, when he refused to give them Rs300 for sand. Arshad called the three brothers for help who arrived and thrashed Nazir and others. At this, Nazir called in Aslam for help who arrived there in no time.

Later, they reconciled with each other but it lasted for a short period as they again started exchanging hot words. This enraged Aslam and his accomplices, who opened fire on the brothers, leaving them dead instantly and injuring their own fellow.

The injured was rushed to the Jinnah Hospital where he told police that he was injured by the firing of Aslam, the police claimed.

Police said the attackers had injured Amanat to show the brothers had also attacked them.

Malik Farmaish Ali, father of the deceased people, told Dawn his elder son Imran received a cell phone call of his tractor-trolley driver Arshad that he was beaten up by Nazir and other men of Aslam over a fare dispute at Bandi, the place where sand was lifted from.

“At this, my three sons left the home for Bandi on a motorcycle,” he said.

He said Nazir had demanded Rs300 from his driver for the sand but later agreed on Rs100.

Farmaish said at 10:30am he was informed that his sons were lying dead there.

He said the accused had opened indiscriminate fire as a large number of empty shells were found at the crime scene.

Hunjarwal station house officer Iftikhar Ahmed said police had found 223 empty shells at the killing spot and it showed how enraged the killers were.

Farmaish suspected that his neighbour Aslam, alias Achha Bhatti, with his nephews Mazhar, Faisal and Bhulla and two unidentified people had killed his sons.

“I saw the accused passing by my house on foot but did not know that they had killed my sons,” he said.

Farmaish has seven sons and three daughters from two wives. Imran is survived by wife and a one-and-a-half-year-old daughter.

He said Aslam had killed a police constable of Hunjarwal police station five years ago.

Relatives of the deceased alleged that Aslam and his accomplices used to extort money from tractor trolley drivers for using their land as passage.

But the SPO said Aslam had the contract to charge tractor-trolleys lifting sand from the land.

Police shifted the bodies to morgue for autopsy and registered a case against Aslam, Mazhar, Faisal, Bhulla, Tariq and Amanat and two unidentified people on the complaint of Farmaish.

SUSPENSION: Sadar SP Nizam Shahid Durrani suspended from service Niaz Baig police check post in-charge Malik Mukhtar for negligence.