Four suspects held over cleric’s murder in Jauhar

The District East police have arrested four suspects in connection with the murder of a cleric who was targeted three weeks ago in the Gulistan-e-Jauhar neighbourhood.

East Range police chief DIG Azfar Mahesar disclosed the arrests in a media briefing at his office on Tuesday, along with District East police chief SSP Irfan Ali Bahadur.

Mahesar said Mufti Ziaur Rehman was murdered on September 12 near the FBR Building in Block 15 of Gulistan-e-Jauhar, which falls under the jurisdiction of the Sharea Faisal police station.

The Karachi police chief then formed an investigation team headed by Mahesar, with Bahadur, Investigation-1 (East) SSP Muhammad Maroof Usman and Special Investigation Unit SSP Junaid Ahmed Sheikh as members.

Mahesar said their team worked with federal intelligence agencies to closely review all the evidence, and they raided over 70 locations in the light of technical evidence, with the investigation involving more than 100 suspects.

He identified the arrested suspects as Gul Sher, Haq Nawaz Gopang, Umair Majid and Yasin Zarmin. He said the police also recovered the 30-bore pistol and the 9mm pistol used in the incident.

The officer said the suspects are habitual offenders involved in hundreds of street crime incidents in different areas of Karachi. He said they murdered Rehman for resisting the attempt to mug him.