Kenyan police have shot dead a top Pakistani journalist. The journalist who was identified as Arshad Sharif was shot dead on Sunday night along the Nairobi-Magadi Road at a police road block.

Early reports had also suggested that Sharif and his driver had breached the road block. The driver was injured during the incident and was rushed to hospital. Sharif’s body was taken to Chiromo Mortuary.

Following the incident, the reports have now come out to say that the police have attributed the shooting to death of Sharif as a case of mistaken identity.

The death was confirmed by Sharif’s wife who posted a message on her Twitter page.

“I lost friend, husband and my favourite journalist Arshad Sharif today. As per police he was shot in Kenya,” said Javeria Siddiqui, Sharif’s wife.

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“Respect our privacy and in the name of breaking, pls don’t share our family pics, personal details and his last pics from hospital. Remember us in ur prayers,” she added.

According to investigative journalist John Allan Namu, the police claimed that the shooting incident was a case of mistaken identity.

“Police reports claim that Arshad’s death was as a result of shooting in a case of mistaken identity,” Namu said. However, the police had not come out to issue a statement at the time of press.

Namu, however, refuted claims that he had worked with Sharif as had been alleged online following reports of his death.

“I am sorry to hear about Arshad’s death. I was interviewed for the documentary but he and I never met or worked together,” he said.

The incident promoted the Independent Policing Oversight Authority (IPOA) to dispatch a response team to Kajiado.