Three held after Karachi University professor assaulted at Safoora Chowrangi

KARACHI: Police on Tuesday arrested three suspects after a senior faculty member of the University of Karachi and his nephew were allegedly assaulted with pistol butts following a minor traffic accident near Safoora Chowrangi, police said.

East Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP) Zubair Nazir Sheikh told Dawn that the victims were University of Karachi’s Islamic Learning Department chairman Dr Professor Mohammed Arif Khan Saqi and his nephew, Mohammed Waheed Rehman.

“The professor was travelling along a main road on his way to the university, while the suspects were reversing their vehicle when it hit his,” SSP Sheikh said.

He said the police had given the professor a letter for medico-legal formalities, following which a first information report (FIR) was registered at Sachal police station.

“The police conducted raids and arrested three suspects. Further efforts were under way to arrest the remaining suspects,” he added.

Sachal police station House Officer (SHO) Aijaz Pathan told Dawn that the suspects were influential persons who owned a restaurant in Safoora. He said raids were being conducted to arrest all those involved in the incident.

Meanwhile, the FIR, registered on a complaint by Dr Saqi, invoked sections 147 (punishment for rioting), 148 (rioting while armed with a deadly weapon), 149 (every member of an unlawful assembly guilty of an offence committed in prosecution of the common object), 324 (attempt to commit qatl-i-amd) and 342 (punishment for wrongful confinement) of the Pakistan Penal Code (PPC).

According to the complainant, he was travelling with his nephew in a car to the University of Karachi when the incident occurred.

“When we reached Safoora Chowrangi near Green Hotel at around 10:15am, a double-cabin vehicle hit and damaged the bonnet of our car and attempted to drive away,” Dr Saqi said.

He said the situation escalated when he asked the occupants of the vehicle to compensate for the damage to his car.

Dr Saqi added that when he asked for their names, the suspects exited the vehicle and started assaulting his nephew.

“In the meantime, their gunmen also arrived and started beating my nephew and me; as a result, we both fell on the road after being injured.”

Later on, the suspects forcibly took them to a nearby eatery, the complainant said, adding that they were beaten again before the suspects fled.