Met Intezar a week ago, says girl accompanying Karachi police shooting victim

KARACHI: The girl who was with Intezar Ahmed when he was gunned down by police officers in Karachi last week, says she met the teenager a week ago.

Intezar, 19, was killed after Anti Car Lifting Cell officials opened fire on his car late Saturday in the upscale locality of the city, Defence Housing Authority.

While talking to Geo News on the phone, Madiha Kayani spoke about the evening of January 13, saying she and Intezar had stopped to buy burgers before their vehicle came under attack.

The girl said some people, who wearing civilian clothes and looked suspicious to her, gathered around their vehicle and peeped inside.

“’This is the one’, they said, and opened fire,” the girl told Geo News.

Kayani said she ducked when the firing started but Intezar did not respond when she called him out. After the gunshots stopped, she picked up her phone and left the site as she was struck by panic, the girl said.

People had gathered in the area during the firing, she added.

Kayani did not talk about the incident further, saying she had an ailing mother and was not well herself, which is why she did not want to talk to the media. However, the girl said she gave her statement to the police without any pressure. 

'God knows how I escaped'

Speaking to a private news channel earlier on Tuesday, Kayani said she met Intezar through a boy named Salman. 

When asked if Salman was part of the police force, Kayani replied in the negative, saying he was a "sweet innocent guy, don’t drag him in the case". 

Kayani claimed that a friend of Intezar’s shook hands with him, but he did not disembark from the vehicle.

A black car then followed Intezar's car and tried to block its path, as another car and a bike arrived, she said. 

"I asked Intezar 'what’s going on?' I was scared. They started shooting after which I tried to save myself. God knows how I escaped after the shooting ended. I swear to God I don’t know who the shooters were," she said.

Kayani claimed that she slid out of the car, once the firing had stopped, and hailed a rickshaw but had to go back to the car as she had forgotten her mobile phone. 

Talking about the suspects, she said: "It was dark and I could only tell that there was a cleanshaven man without glasses. He’s friends with Intezar". 

One suspect gets bail for Rs0.5 million

Additional sessions judge (South), earlier today, approved the bail of ACLC sub-inspector Tariq Rahim. 

Rahim, who is in custody, received interim bail until January 23 after submitting a Rs500,000 surety bond. 

Investigators had said the initial forensic test of the two weapons used in the incident revealed that one weapon fired 12 rounds, while six rounds were fired from the other weapon. 

Details about the weapons' ownership will be disclosed when the report is complete. 

Police includes girl in investigation 

Late Tuesday, investigators told Geo News they have included the girl in their investigation. 

In her initial statement, the same girl had stated that the shooting was so intense that she could not catch a glimpse of the person who opened fire on their vehicle.

Earlier on Tuesday, the father of the deceased teenager said that he had no faith in the police investigation after he was shown the CCTV video of his son’s killing.

Speaking to Geo News, Intezar’s father said he had seen the CCTV video of the shooting that claimed his son’s life adding that the shooters took aim and fired at his son.

He said that there was a girl sitting inside the vehicle but he does not know who she was, and demanded that she be brought to light.

“That girl is the eyewitness of this murder,” the father stated, adding that he was not shown the complete footage, but only of the shooting.

“The police is involved in my son’s murder,” the father said adding, “why isn’t the girl in the video being brought forth?”

On Monday, DIG South Azad Khan had told journalists that police got the CCTV footage of the incident and all the policemen involved had been arrested.

Narrating what he saw in the CCTV footage, Intezar’s father Ishtiaq Ahmed told Geo News that his son’s car was forced to stop by a black coloured vehicle. After Intezar stopped his car another vehicle approached his car from the left side. The first (black) car gave a suspicious signal to the second vehicle, the father said, after which men in civilian clothes on motorbikes arrived on the scene.

Earlier on Tuesday, the medico-legal officer's (MLO) report was released which confirmed that Interzar died from a single bullet wound behind his ear.

The report also disclosed that other than the aforementioned body part, there was no mark of a bullet or torture on the body of the deceased.

Chief Minister Sindh Murad Ali Shah has also ordered a judicial inquiry into the murder of Intezar, a formal request of which was received by the Sindh High Court on Wednesday (today).