A 56-year-old Hindu doctor was shot dead outside his clinic by unidentified men in Pak Colony area of the Karachi city, the police said on Saturday.
The deceased, identified as Dr Pritam Lakhwani, was a general physician who ran a clinic near Bara Board in Pak Colony for the last 15 years. “He was returning home after shutting down his clinic as per routine when he came under attack,” Lakhwani’s young son, Rakesh Kumar said.
“Someone called me from my father’s cell phone and informed me that he has been killed,” said Rakesh Kumar. The victim’s son said that his father had no personal enmity nor had he received any threats.
Lakhwani, a resident of Garden East, was shot once in his chest. He was taken to Abbasi Shaheed Hospital for medical treatment from where his family took him to Aga Khan University Hospital, where he succumbed to his injuries on Friday.
The doctor’s clinic was located in a residential area and the incident occurred when there was a power failure in the area, however, it has yet to be ascertained who was behind the incident, said the police, who believe it was a targeted killing.
“No one saw the culprit or culprits. We don’t even know whether there was more than one culprit,” said a police official. An FIR has been registered and further investigation is underway. Meanwhile, Muttahida Qaumi Movement minority legislator Sanjay Perwani termed Lakhwani’s killing a “religiously motivated murder”.
“Dr Lakhwani had asked his assistant to bring a balance card for his cellphone and, when the assistant went away, someone came over there and shot him,” said Perwani. Last week, 32-year-old Hindu doctor Anil Kumar was found dead under mysterious circumstances inside the Intensive Care Unit of a civil hospital in Karachi. Earlier, two members of the Hindu community were among three people shot dead in an attack on a wine shop in the metropolis.
