According to local media reports, Amir Tamba, who was acquitted in the murder of Sarabjit Singh, was critically injured in the shooting in Lahore.
Pakistani authorities are investigating the shooting of a man who was acquitted of killing suspected Indian spy Sarabjit Singh in a Lahore prison in 2013, according to local media reports.
Amir Tamba was critically injured in the shooting in the eastern city of Lahore on Sunday, the Pakistani newspaper Dawn reported on Monday, citing a police officer and Tamba’s younger brother Sarfraz.
Multiple media reports in Pakistan and India claimed on Sunday that Tamba was killed in the shootout.
Tamba was one of the suspects in the death of Singh, who was convicted of espionage by a military court in Pakistan and sentenced to death in 1991. But Singh died in 2013 after inmates attacked him in Lahore Jail.
Singh’s killing heightened tensions between the two South Asian nuclear rivals. Tamba and a second man stood trial over Singh’s death but were acquitted in 2018 due to lack of evidence.
Lahore Deputy Inspector General of Police Ali Nasir Rizvi said gunmen entered Tamba’s house and shot him. They fled the scene on a motorcycle.
There are conflicting reports about what happened next. According to Dawn report, Sarfraz informed police about the shooting, which sent his brother to a local hospital.
But the Associated Press news agency said in its report that Pakistani army and intelligence officials reached the scene of the incident and took Tamba to the city’s Combined Military Hospital.
According to the Dawn report, Tamba suffered three gunshot wounds, including two to the chest, and is believed to be in critical condition. It added that police had not confirmed whether he was recovering at the military hospital.
Rizvi said a case had been filed against unknown assailants, but gave no further details about the case, including a possible motive for the attack.
There was lukewarm coverage of Tamba’s shooting in the Pakistani media on Sunday. However, Indian media quickly reported the incident. There was no immediate comment from Indian authorities.
Pakistan has previously accused Indian intelligence of being involved in targeted killings in Pakistan, saying it had credible evidence linking two Indian agents to the deaths of two Pakistanis last year.
Singh was arrested in 1990 for his involvement in a series of bombings in Lahore and Faisalabad that killed 14 people. His family said he was innocent.
Last year, both the United States and Canada accused Indian agents of having links to assassinations on their territory. India dismissed allegations of its involvement in the killing in Canada as “absurd”.
In the U.S. case, India’s foreign ministry said it had set up a high-level committee to investigate the allegations, adding that the alleged link to an Indian official was “concerning” and “contrary to government policy.”