Autopsy of young man shot dead in Karachi's Mubina Town encounter complete

KARACHI: The post-mortem of a civilian shot dead Friday on the city's Abul Hassan Isphani Road during an alleged police encounter was completed Saturday night, Geo News reported, citing authorities and sources.

Musab Hassan, 22, the deceased, was killed after being shot during an alleged police encounter wherein one of the bullets from the exchange of gunfire between the authorities and dacoits hit him.

According to the initial reports, the bullet that hit Hassan in the head was shot from a pistol. This was corroborated by Dr Aijaz Ahmed Khokhar, the police surgeon, who said the bullet was shot from a pistol, the main component of which had been extracted and handed over to the police.

However, Adeel Chandio, the senior superintendent of police (SSP) for Malir, explained that none of the police officers who were part of the alleged encounter possessed a pistol.

They were, however, carrying submachine guns (SMG), Chandio said, adding that that was why authorities suspect that Musab Hassan was killed by the dacoits' firing.

Nonetheless, five police officers were taken into custody consequent to the incident.

The SSP also mentioned that there were two or more suspects, as per what they eyewitnesses described. A forensic test being carried out on a pistol recovered from the scene of the encounter in Mubina Town, he added.

The arrested suspect — detained in a wounded state from Jinnah Hospital — was wanted in multiple prior cases. He had tried to pass off as a civilian but was identified by the person whose bike he tried to snatch.

Prior to this, Zulfiqar Ali Larik, the deputy inspector-general of police (DIG) for district East, had said the officers had tried to surround the suspects when the former saw the latter engaged in mugging a citizen.

Upon realising they were being surrounded, the dacoits opened fire, which caused the police to shoot in response and, somewhere in the ensuing chaos, it was Musab Hassan who was shot dead.

Larik said the closed-circuit television (CCTV) footage of the incident was being reviewed.

Young Musab was a resident of Gulshan-e-Iqbal and the only brother to three sisters.