A 56-year-old Hindu doctor was shot dead by unidentified men in the Pak Colony area of Karachi, Pakistan on Thursday. This is the second Hindu doctor who was shot dead in Karachi in the last month.
Dr. Pireetam Das, a general physician who ran a clinic for 15 years in the area, was shot inside his clinic while the attendant was away to buy a mobile card for the doctor. He was shot once in the chest. He was immediately rushed to the hospital, but he died on Friday.
"Dr Pireetam Das was sitting in his clinic located in Hasrat Mohani Colony at midnight on Thursday when someone attacked him," Akhtar Farooq, SSP Investigation West, told Pakistan-based Dawn newspaper. "Hearing the gunshot, the assistant rushed to the clinic and found the doctor bleeding," added Farooq. There was no theft and investigation is under way, he said.
The assistant and a friend of his took Das to Abbasi Shaheed Hospital, the police said. The doctor's son, Mukesh Kumar, shifted him to Aga Khan University Hospital. However, he succumbed to his wounds.
"He was returning home after shutting down his clinic as per routine when he came under attack," Lakhwani's young son told The Express Tribune. The Express Tribune identified the doctor as Pireetam Lakhwani and the son as Rakesh Kumar.
"Someone called me from my father's cellphone and informed me that he had been killed," Kumar said. The son of the victim also said that his father had no enmity nor had he received threats.
"No one saw the culprit or culprits. We [the police] don't even know whether there was more than one culprit," said police officer Muhammad Hasnain. The station house officer of the area was suspended in relation to the case. A case was registered under sections 302 (murder) and 34 (common intention) of Pakistan Penal Code (PPC) against unknown suspects on complaint of the victim's son.
Muttahida Qaumi Movement minority leader and Member of national assembly, Sanjay Perwani, has called the murder "religiously motivated." He will be submitting a call-attention notice in National Assembly on August 8 over the issue, the Express Tribune reported.
Last week, a 32-year-old Hindu doctor, Anil Kumar, was discovered murdered inside the Intensive Care Unit of a civil hospital in Karachi.
