KARACHI: Police on Monday claimed to have arrested a suspect allegedly involved in the murder of a female trainee nurse in Orangi Town, where she lived, officials said.

The Surjani police arrested the suspect, identified as Asif, with help of the mobile phone record of the victim girl, said Karachi West SSP Irfan Baloch.

He added that the suspect told investigators that he was a ‘friend’ and neighbour of the young woman and they used to go to the Hub Dam.

The police added that the suspect had taken the girl from Orangi Town and brought her to a deserted place in the hilly area of Surjani, where he allegedly strangled her with her dupatta.

Quoting the suspect, the police said that the girl fell down, hit a rock and started to bleed. The suspect allegedly had also brought kerosene, which he sprinkled on her body before torching it. This was done to destroy the woman’s identity, the SSP added.

He said that the held suspect told the investigators that he killed his ‘friend’ because she was not ‘faithful’ to him. He added that the suspect had no previous criminal record.

In order to throw the police off the scent, the suspect had given his mobile phone to his brother after the murder of the girl, the police added.

Around 22-year-old female trainee nurse was found burnt to death in Surjani Town on April 7 in the Khuda Ki Basti area along the Lyari River.

Manghopir Deputy Superintendent of Police Shaukat Shani had said that it appeared that the suspect(s) had brought the victim to the riverbank, where they hit her on the head with a hard and blunt instrument as blood stains were found at the scene of the crime before sprinkling oil on her body and setting it on fire.

The body was taken to the Abbasi Shaheed Hospital, where doctors said that she sustained 100 per cent burns. The doctors added that she had died two to three hours before her body was bought to hospital.

The victim was identified through a card of the Sindh Govt Qatar Hospital found in her purse found at the spot. She was getting training in a ‘physio-technic’ course at the hospital.