Noose being tightened against Altaf in London

Key suspect’s fingerprints, DNA match those on weapon used in Imran Farooq’s murder; Scotland Yard informs Pakistan about key development; MQM founder could be declared proclaimed offender

ISLAMABAD: Noose is being tightened against the Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) supremo Altaf Hussain in London as key suspect Mohsin Ali’s fingerprints and DNA have matched those on the weapon used in the murder of former MQM leader Imran Farooq, interior ministry sources told Geo News on Friday.

According to the sources, Scotland Yard has informed Pakistan about the key development.Scotland Yard officials had taken fingerprint samples when they first sent a team to interrogate the suspects in Pakistan.

Scotland Yard had also recovered a knife and other evidence as well from the crime scene.Mohsin Ali, in his statement to the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA), had said that he had attacked only to tackle Imran Farooq. However, his accomplice, Kamran, had attacked Farooq with a knife.

According to Mohsin, Kamran was in Afghanistan but sources claim that the suspect died during detention by the law enforcement agencies.Sources further said that MQM founder Altaf could be declared a proclaimed offender in the case.

Imran Farooq, 50, a founding member of the MQM, was stabbed and beaten to death in Edgware, northwest London, as he returned home from work on September 16, 2010.Farooq was a close confidant of Altaf Hussain and a senior party leader when he fled the country in 1992.

He was living in North London after claiming political asylum and had reportedly later become an inactive member of the party, which has also recently been the focus of a money laundering investigation in the UK.