ISLAMABAD, April 16: Police have arrested an Afghan man for killing a retired employee of the Capital Development Authority (CDA) after robbing him of Rs36,000 and a cellphone.

The body of Nazeer Ahmed, a retired clerk, was recovered on March 12 this year from his flat in sector G-9/2. Neighbours had informed police about stink coming out of the flat. He was strangulated with an iron wire, police said.

Ahmed was living alone in the flat as his wife had died some years back. His only married daughter was living in Mandi Bahauddin.

Police said Mohammad Bashir, a native of Logar, left Pakistan after killing the CDA official with the help of an accomplice. Due to non-availability of a complainant, the murder case was registered on behalf of the police.

Investigators found that Ahmed used to offer rooms of his flat to paying guests. In February this year, two Afghans started living with him. On March 9, according to the police, the two Afghans disappeared.

The police succeeded in tracing the victim’s missing cellphone when it was switched on in Peshawar. It led the police to an Afghan working in a factory in Peshawar. He told the investigators that the cellphone was given to him by Mohammad Bashir, his brother, who went to Afghanistan.

Police traced Bashir with the help of one of his friends, who succeeded in bringing him to Islamabad, leading to his arrest. He confessed to killing Ahmed with the help of Mohammad Ahsan, also an Afghan.

He told the police that in February they came to Islamabad from Afghanistan to earn livelihood, and started living as paying guests in the flat of Ahmed. On March 8, they strangulated him and took away Rs36,000 and Ahmed’s cellphone.

For a few days they lived in Peshawar before leaving for Afghanistan.