AHMEDABAD: A 20-year-old youth, Ashraf Khan Pathan , died on Monday due to the bullet injuries he had sustained during the riots in Shahpur on Sunday evening. The cops had opened fire near Shahpur Adda on Sunday when a mob attacked a police team looking for people involved in violence in the area a day earlier. However, it is not yet clear whether the bullet which hit the youth was fired from a police weapon or from some other gun. "The bullet recovered from his body has been sent for forensic analysis to ascertain whether it was fired from the service revolver of a policeman," said a city police official.

Pathan was admitted to VS Hospital with excessive bleeding. He had to be put on life support because the bullet had punctured his vital organs causing multiple organ failure. However, at 9 am on Monday, the hospital officials declared him dead. Pathan was to get married next month and his house was being decked up for his wedding, said his family members. Senior city police officials rushed to the hospital on learning about Pathan's death. They were afraid that violence would flare up again in Shahpur if Pathan's body was taken to the area which has been tense after the violence on Sunday night. After much persuasion, the family members of the deceased agreed to bury him at a cemetery in Shahibaug after the last rites.

According to city police officials, Pathan, a resident of Vankarvaas near Paththarwali Masjid in Shahpur, was the son of an auto driver and eldest among four brothers.

He had been working with a tailoring firm in the Walled City that sewed jeans and other clothes sold at readymade garment shops. Local people said that Pathan generally returned home from work at around 8 pm. "On Sunday, however, he wanted to prepare for Bakr Eid and had therefore started for home at 6 pm. He was caught unawares near Paththarwali Masjid where the police had taken position after stone throwing started from Shahpur Adda. A bullet hit Pathan in the stomach and exited from his back. He collapsed on the road from where he was taken home.