HYDERABAD: A man was killed and three others wounded when litigants in a land dispute case clashed outside a court in Kotri and later traded fire on Friday.
The two sides one belonging to the Burfat community and the other to the Barejo community living in Yousuf Baloch Goth had earlier lodged FIRs against each other at the Kotri police station.
On Friday, they attended hearing ofthe application for confirmation or otherwise of a pre-arrest bail filed by accused Azeem Barejo, his brother Sharif Barejo and their nephew Sarmad Barejo, son of Dhani Baksh Barejo. Their Burfat rivals in the case were also present in the court.
The court confirmed the bail pleas of Azeem and Sharif, but dismissed that of Sarmad, who had escaped arrest.
According to police and eyewitnesses, the two sides indulged in a heated argument and a scuffle outside the court before trading fire.
The shootout left one man, Dilsher, sonof Jaffar Burfat, dead and three others, Qasim, son of Gul Hassan, Ayaz, son of Ali Mohammad, and Asif, son of Ali Akbar, wounded. They were shifted to the Liaquat University Hospital, Hyderabad. Azeem, who was injured during the scuffle, was taken to the Liaquat University Hospital, Jamshoro, by his brother, Dhani Bakhsh Barejo, who had proceeded to the court after hearing about the scuffle.
Azeem and Sharif were arrested after the episode.
The pieces of land in dispute are situ-ated in the Hari Camp area of Kotri near the shrine of Baba Salahuddin.
Yusuf Baloch Goth is also adjacent to the shrine.
According to Mehar Burfat, a former councillor from the area, Dilsher and others were attacked by Dhani Bakhsh and his brother, Aslam Barejo, after the court hearing. On his part, Dhani Bakhsh told Dawn over phone that Burfats had attacked his brother in court after the case hearing and also fired on him when he was taking Azeem to the LUH Jamshoro.