KARACHI: A man and his son were arrested by Karachi Police on Friday for allegedly being involved in shooting and injuring Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Member Provincial Assembly (MPA) Ramzan Ghanchi on Thursday night.
The lawmaker was shot in the city’s old area, in the limits of Napier police station, over a dispute about laying a water line the Timber Market area, police said. City Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP) Muquddus Haider said that the police had registered a case against a man and his two sons over charges of attempted murder. The police had arrested Timber Market Association President Suleman Soomro and his son Shahnawaz, he added. SSP Haider further said that Suleman’s other son Ali who is the vice chairman of the area’s union council is on the run and efforts are underway to arrest him.
The police official said that Ali Soomro has been identified as the main suspect, adding that he shot the PTI lawmaker with a 9mm pistol and the investigators have collected two spent bullet casings and one live bullet from the site of the incident.
Napier SHO Azam Khan, who was suspended following the incident, said the incident took place after an exchange of heated words between Ali and Ghanchi over the water line issue. He said that the PTI lawmaker wanted to lay a water line from the main water conduit but the opponents barred Ghanchi from doing so as he did not have permission from the Karachi Water and Sewerage Board (KWSB). However, Ghanchi, in his statement before police, alleged that the suspects were illegally laying a water line and he had gone to the site to stop them.
Following the incident, the PTI lawmaker, who sustained a bullet wound in his leg, was admitted to Dr Ruth Pfau Civil Hospital for treatment where he was declared to be out of danger.
