ISLAMABAD, May 30: The government on Wednesday claimed to have arrested four `killers’ of Syed Hammad Amjad Raza, the Additional Registrar of the Supreme Court, who was shot dead in his residence in Sector G-10 on May 14.

“Police have arrested in Muzaffarabad four men involved in the murder and recovered a weapon used in the murder and a wrist-watch of Mr Hammad’s father,” Interior Minister Aftab Ahmed Khan Sherpao said at a press conference.

The arrested men, all residents of Kashmir, have been identified as Syed Sharifuddin Gillani and Bashiruddin Gillani, sons of Syed Shamsuddin, Mir Afzal, son of Shah Zaman, and Basharat Mir, son of Sikandar Mir. However, the minister did not say if the family members of the deceased had identified the alleged killers.

Mr Hammad’s family described the shooting as a targeted assassination because of his connections with the Chief Justice of Pakistan.

The minister said that two of the accused had been sent to jail and the other two were being interrogated.

He said a six-member special investigation team led by Senior Superintendent of Police was investigating the case.

Mr Sherpao claimed that the investigation team had used ‘scientific methods’ in the probe.

After initial investigation, the police team traced a gang of culprits from Azad Kashmir involved in similar crimes in Islamabad in the past.

The team strictly monitored activities of the gang and on May 29 arrested the four with the prior permission of the Azad Kashmir administration.

He said the police team had recovered the murder weapon, a 30-bore pistol, a Toyota Hiace van bearing Registration Number RPT-8868 and the wrist-watch of Hammad's father from the accused.

The minister claimed that the alleged killers had taken away cash from Hammad's father and gold ornaments from his mother at gunpoint and then taken the father to first floor where Hammad was sleeping.

The wife of the deceased, it may be mentioned, had told journalists after the murder that the killers had taken nothing from the house.