A former senior subeditor of Urdu daily Nawa-i-Waqt, Zeba Burney, was found dead inside her Khudadad Colony apartment on the first day of Eidul Fitr.

Brigade acting SHO SI Javed told The News that the deceased’s sister called in the police after she visited Buney’s house on Monday.

SHO Javed said a police team moved the body to hospital for a post-mortem where a medico-legal officer confirmed that the journalist had been strangled to death.

The 65-year-woman, wife of Naeem Qamar, was residing alone in her apartment after the death of her husband, he said, adding that the deceased’s two brothers were residents of Federal B Area and Tariq Road.

SHO Javed said residents of the deceased’s building told the police that they saw Burney last time on Sunday night when her apartment’s electric meter caught fire due to a short circuit.

The police official ruled out any possibility of the journalist being killed during a robbery bid, saying her stuff and valuables were not touched by anybody when the police team reached the apartment and found the woman dead.

SHO Javed said the police interrogated her two brothers who denied their involvement in the murder.

He said the police had handed over the body to her heirs for burial and an investigation into the murder case had been initiated.

Siyal takes notice:

The provincial home minister expressed his grief over the senior journalist’s murder under mysterious circumstances.

He ordered the DIG East to launch a probe into the case and take every possible step to nab the killers.

Separately, the Karachi Union of Journalists (KUJ) also condemned the former subeditor’s murder and demanded of Sindh Chief Minister Murad Ali Shah, home minister Sohail Anwar Siyal and provincial police chief AD Khowaja to immediately arrest her killers.

KUJ President Hassan Mansor, general secretary Faheem Siddiqui and other office-bearers expressed their sorrows over the loss and vowed that they would not sit silently on her murder.

Burney served Nawa-i-Waqt for 30 years and also remained the incharge of its children’s and women pages. She left the newspaper in 2013.

Robbers kill man:

A man was shot dead by muggers near Dewan Suleman Masjid in Korangi, apparently for trying to resist their demands to hand over cash and valuables.

Awami Colony police officials said Anees Ahmed, son of Murtaza Ahmed, was on his way back to his house in Korangi No 4 early on Wednesday morning when he was held up by robbers.

They said the robbers told Anees to hand over his cash and valuables and he tried to resist their demands. As a result, the robbers shot at him from close range.

Police officials said Anees was shot once in the chest and was pronounced dead on arrival at the Jinnah Postgraduate Medical Centre (JPMC).

A wave of street crimes was witnessed in Karachi during Ramazan, with as many as four people shot and injured in separate mugging incidents reported across the metropolis on the last Friday of the holy month.

The first report came from Hazara Goth in Baldia Town where a 25-year-old man was shot and injured after a robbery bid. As per Baldia SP Asif Razzak, the injured man – identified as Nawab Khan, son of Tooti Khan – was held up by three robbers in the Hazara Goth area. The citizen suffered a bullet wound to the arm and was later hospitalised for treatment.

In the day’s second robbery incident, two men were shot and injured by robbers near the Murghi Khana bus stop in Quaidabad, the same place where muggers had shot and injured a youth a day earlier.

Shah Latif police officials identified the injured citizens as Nadeem and Mazhar, and said they had tried to defy the muggers’ demand to hand over their valuables.

Both men were shot in their backs and were rushed to the Jinnah Postgraduate Medical Centre (JPMC) for treatment. Friday’s third mugging incident was reported in Block D of North Nazimabad where a 30-year-old man was shot and injured by robbers near the TTC Training Centre.