RAWALPINDI:
Robbers mistakenly killed their accomplice during a shop robbery and injured another citizen over resistance during a street crime incident on Sunday.
The CCTV footage showed that two robbers entered a grocery store in Afshan Colony in Racecourse police limits, held the owner hostage at gunpoint and started looting cash and valuables.
In the CCTV footage, the shopkeeper could be seen busy dealing with routine business affairs, while two bandits with masks on their faces could be seen entering the shop and inspecting it. One of the suspects wearing jeans and a brown jacket could be seen pulling out a pistol and demanding cash while pointing the gun at the shopkeeper. His other accomplice wearing shalwar kameez is looking busy on the other side of the shop.
The footage further shows that the shopkeeper, in an apparent act of diverting the attention of the suspects, throws his wallet towards the door. When the robber goes to pick up the wallet, the shopkeeper grabs the opportunity to take out his pistol. In the meantime, the robber could be seen pulling cash from the wallet and returning it to the showcase.
As the robbers were about to leave the shop after collecting cash and a cell phone, the shopkeeper could be seen in the footage coming out under the showcase and firing at the suspects while chasing them.
Present outside the shop, some accomplices of the two robbers started firing indiscriminately. The shopkeeper could then be seen running back inside the shop. The CCTV footage further reveals that in the random shooting by robbers, one of the bullets hit their own accomplice in the head. The suspect died on the spot, while his accomplices managed to escape.
After being alerted, the local police reached the spot, gathered circumstantial evidence and recorded witnesses’ statements. The shopkeeper’s mobile phone, identification card and a pistol were also seized from the deceased’s possession.
Racecourse SHO Raja Iftikhar said that police teams have been formed to track down and arrest the runaway suspects.
In another incident, some robbers intercepted one Asif on Misrial Road and attempted to snatch cash and a cell phone. As the 34-year-old offered resistance, the suspects fired at him and fled. Witnesses alerted the Rescue 1122 service and police. The victim was shifted to a hospital. The police collected the evidence and began an investigation.
Published in The Express Tribune, April 1st, 2024.
