KARACHl: An employee of the Karachi Water and Sewerage Corporation (KWSC) was shot dead by robbers in Gulshan-iMaymar late on Wednesday night, his family and water utility said on Thursday.

Police said that Rustam Ali Soomro, 50, was riding a motorcycle when armed pillion riders fired at him near the KWSC Housing Society in Janjal Goth `due to unknown reason`.

SSP-West (Investigation) Arib Mahar told Dawn that his relatives verbally informed the police that Rustam was killed by robbers when he put up resistance to their attempt to snatch his motorcycle. They took away his motorbike.

However, the SSP said that the bike was not a new one. He said that the assailants fired a single shot in the head and it appeared that they took away the bike only to give the incident a colour of robbery.

He said that the police would lodge an FIR on the complaint of the victim`s family to initiate formal legal proceedings to ascertain the exact motive of the murder.

On Thursday, KWSC Chief Executive Officer Salahuddin Ahmed stated in a statement that Rustam Soomro was shot dead by robbers over resistance.

He asked the Sindh police chief to take measure to bring the killers to justice at the earliest.

The statement said that the KWSC chief also approached the Rangers director general and urged him to play his role in the early arrest of the killers.