Hunza youth killed in 'fake encounter' not a criminal: Karachi police chief

• No evidence found suggesting Hunza youth was criminal, says Karachi police chief
• Hunza youth killed in ‘fake encounter’ in Karachi buried in hometown a day earlier
• Two Karachi cops booked under anti-terrorism law for killing student

KARACHI: No evidence has been found to suggest that Sultan Nazeer, a student killed in an alleged fake encounter earlier this week, was a criminal, The News reported Friday.

News of Nazeer's killing came two days after a 22-year-old Islamabad student, Usama Nadeem, was shot dead by the Anti-Terrorist Squad personnel.

Nazeer was a student of BCom and used to work in Saddar.

According to the evidence collected so far, Nazeer does not appear to be guilty, Karachi Additional IG Ghulam Nabi Memon said in a media talk on Thursday.

Investigators have prepared an inquiry report saying Nazeer had no previous criminal record and was not killed during an exchange of fire with the police.

Read more: Another fake encounter: Case registered against two Karachi cops for killing student

"The CCTV footage and other circumstantial evidence suggests that he was hit by a bullet while he was passing from the crime scene and policemen wrongly killed him," Nabi said.

Sultan Nazeer laid to rest in Hunza

Nazeer was laid to rest in Hunza on Wednesday. The burial was in Nazeer's hometown of Khanabad in Hunza.

But the policemen accused of murdering Nazeer are still at large, the police informed the administrative judge of an anti-terrorism court in Karachi the same day Nazeer was buried.

The investigation officer of the case submitted a report before the judge that the two police constables, Shabbir Ahmed and Jahangir Khan, were on the run. He told the court that efforts were underway to nab the absconding suspects.

Read more: Karachi student killed in 'fake encounter' laid to rest in Hunza

A case was registered against the two Karachi policemen on Monday.

The FIR against the Karachi cops was registered under Section 302 of the Pakistan Penal Code and Section 7 of the Anti-Terrorism Act at the Site A Section police station, where they are deployed.

It was registered on the request of Saleemullah, the cousin of the victim, Nazeer.

No news from the police since FIR registered: family

The victim’s family is worried over the pace of the investigation.

Speaking to The News, Saleemullah, a cousin of Nazeer, said the police had not contacted him since the lodging of the FIR and his family was not satisfied with the probe.

“He [Nazir] was a scout and has been buried in his homeland with full honour,” he said, expressing disgust over the initial claim made by police that the victim was a robber who got killed in an exchange of fire with police personnel in the SITE area. “Would a robber hire Bykea to mug people?” he questioned.

Read about the Usama Nadeem murder case

He said Nazir had come to Karachi from Hunza a couple of years ago and had started a small garments shop in the Saddar area with the help of his brother.

“The whole Gilgit-Baltistan is in anger over what Sindh police have done,” he said, referring to the videos and pictures of Nazir’s funeral being shared on social media. “He was a boy scout, a responsible person and a social activist. Labelling him a robber is an insult to his services to society.”

What happened in the fake encounter?

On January 3, Nazeer had gone to Metroville in SITE from his home in Garden to mourn the death of a relative, Nazeer's cousin said in the FIR.

Saleemullah said Nazeer booked a ride-hailing motorcycle service to get back home at 9:41pm.

When Saleemullah found out Monday morning that his cousin did not return home, he traced the number of the rider who had picked his cousin up. The rider, Saleemullah said, told him that some policemen had shot dead Nazeer.

Read more: Five members of Islamabad's anti-terror squad arrested after young man allegedly shot dead

The rider told me that the policemen opened fire on them when they reached Habib Bank Chowk in the SITE area, Saleemullah said in the FIR.

"I managed to save my life and escaped. Then I reached the same area in the morning where a petrol station employee told me that the police had killed a robber last night,” Saleemullah quoted the rider as saying.

Saleemullah said his cousin is not a criminal and the policemen had killed him in a fake encounter.