Police on Wednesday recovered the body of a man found inside a blue fiber drum in the parking area of a residential apartment in the Scheme 33 area of Karachi.
Police said the victim had been identified as 34-year-old Iqbal, son of Abdur Razzaq. He was a resident of the Hussainabad area and the father of two children. He ran a small shop in the Chandni Chowk area.
Police said the victim’s brother Rizwan had lodged a kidnapping case of his brother at the New Town police station on January 20, informing the police that his brother run a pan shop in the Chandni Chowk area and had gone missing since January 19.
The family also received a ransom call demanding Rs3 million on January 20, after which the investigation of the case was transferred to the Anti-Violent Crime Cell (AVCC) of the police. During the investigation, the AVCC detained a suspect, Rameez, who is the husband of the victim’s sister-in-law. Upon his confession, the police recovered Iqbal’s body from a blue fiber drum in the parking area of the Lubaba Heights located in Gulshan-e-Kaneez Fatima Society, Scheme 33.
Rameez initially revealed that he had offered to drop Iqbal home, persuading him to cancel his ride-hailing service booking. On the way, a heated argument occurred, during which he hit Iqbal on the head with a stick, injuring him. He later lured the injured victim to his residence, where he concealed the body in a drum.
The suspect had been misleading the victim's family, participating in the search for Iqbal while secretly keeping the victim’s body hidden. Iqbal's phone was recovered from Rameez’s residence.
Police said they were also gathering CCTV footage and recording statements from the victim's and suspect's families to verify the events. Police said the post-mortem results would determine the time and cause of death. They added that they were thoroughly investigating all aspects of the case, including the motive behind the murder and the suspect’s role.
Speaking to The News, AVCC chief SSP Anil Haider shared details of the ongoing investigation into the kidnapping and murder case of Iqbal. He said Rameez had disclosed during the interrogation that another individual was involved in the crime.
Rameez later told the investigators that he and his accomplice had taken Iqbal to Rameez’s flat. An argument ensued between them leading to a physical altercation. The victim sustained fatal injuries during the conflict. After Iqbal's death, Rameez said he contacted the victim’s family for ransom to paint his disappearance a kidnapping.
He said his accomplice left the scene shortly after that. SSP Haider said the motive behind the crime appeared to be financial. However, investigators were collecting evidence to substantiate the claims. He added that the inclusion of forensic evidence would play a critical role in resolving the case. He said police were trying to apprehend the second suspect and establish the full sequence of events leading to Iqbal’s death.
