FAISALABAD, April 24: Jhang Bazaar police killed another man linked to a triple murder in an 'encounter' late on Saturday night.

The man, who had been booked for triple murder on the complaint of a close aide of Punjab Law Minister Rana Sanaullah Khan, was already in police custody, his family said. Police arrested him in Karachi last Saturday and later brought him here.

Nasir was one of the four men who were booked by the Factory Area police on October 21 for the murder of their three rivals and later gunned down allegedly in staged encounters. Nasir's alleged accomplices Zakaria, Rashid and Imran have already been gunned down in 'encounters'.

Asif Butt, the plaintiff in the triple murder case, is a close aide of the Punjab law minister.

Zakaria, Rashid and Imran's families say their boys have been killed in staged encounters on the orders of the law minister.

On December 6, people from Samanabad and Nawabanwala localities staged a protest against the police and said the four men had been implicated in the triple murder case at law minister's behest. However, the minister denied the charges.

However, police said these people were involved in various crimes and killed in encounters on different occasions.

About the latest encounter, police said two motorcyclists snatched cash and cell phones from two people in Rail Bazaar and Gulberg and fled. Police tried to stop them at a picket on Risalewala Road, but they opened fire. Police retaliated and killed Nasir, but his accomplice fled.

On November 4, Factory Area police killed Imran and Azeem. Police said they snatched a motorcycle and were killed in an encounter. On November 8, Rashid was killed by Sargodha Road police for allegedly snatching a motorcycle. A day before his encounter, his mother alerted the media about the planned encounter of her son. The local media raised the alarm, but the police executed its plan without any fear of action by any state institution.

A post-mortem report confirmed that Zakaria, a resident of Nawabanwala locality, had been killed in a staged encounter. The report said Zakaria's skull had broken from three points before his death. Jhang Bazaar police had implicated him in an encounter case on December 5.

Encounter victims Nasir and Rashid are brothers.

Judicial inquiries into these encounters are pending with judicial magistrates.