A man, said to be a bicycle thief, was beaten up by a mob on Sunday before he was handed over to the Peoples Colony police.
Police said Nasir Ali, a security guard at one of the shops in D-Ground, claimed to have seen the man, later identified as Asghar Ali, unlock a cycle parked in the market. The guard raised an alarm and some passers-by and shopkeepers gathered around the men and beat him up. Someone called the police, who took the man in custody. SHO Zafar Iqbal said the suspect would be presented before a magistrate on Monday (today). He said the man was apparently a drug addict and used to stealing bicycles and manhole lids.
He said the man had been taken to a hospital before he was shifted to the police station. In another incident, people beat up a pickpocket in Kutchery Bazaar.
Rail Bazaar police said the man, identified as Imran, was trying to steal a woman’s purse in the market’s parking lot. Police eventually took the man in custody and was given first aid on the spot. SHO Shahid Husain said he hoped to trace other pick-pockets through Imran.
Published in The Express Tribune, April 15th, 2013.