KARACHI: An official of the NED University of Engineering and Technology has been held for questioning in connection with the murder of Karachi University’s dean of the Islamic Studies faculty, said Karachi police chief on Tuesday.

Prof Dr Mohammed Shakeel Auj, the dean of the Islamic Studies faculty, was shot dead on Sept 18 in Gulshan-i-Iqbal.

“Investigators have detained the NED official in the Dr Auj murder case,” said Ghulam Qadir Thebo, the additional inspector general of police, Karachi, at a press conference at his office.

Also read: Police grill two professors, NED official over Dr Auj murder

Refusing to divulge the suspect’s identity, he added that the suspect was taken into custody as he had allegedly sent a threatening text message to Dr Auj through his mobile phone. Besides, when he was grilled by the investigators, he failed to give “satisfactory replies”.

He said that a KU faculty member was also under investigation although he had not been formally arrested. The police official did not reveal his identity either.

He said that the New Karachi police arrested a man, identified as Kashif Ali alias Kala, who belonged to a political party and was allegedly involved in the recent killing of a man and his son in Surjani Town. He had also allegedly killed two officials of the investigation wing of the West zone police in North Karachi and had murdered 10 other people in different localities of the city.

The police also arrested another suspect, identified as Ubaid Ali. The suspect was associated with a banned religious outfit and was allegedly involved in the killing of an Intelligence Bureau official Qamar Abbas and his son, Asad, in Sharifabad in 2012. He was also involved in killing of nine other people on sectarian grounds, he added.

The West zone police also arrested three suspects — Shamsi Alam, Imran Malik alias Bomb and Abdul Razzak — for their alleged involvement in targeted killings and other crimes, claimed the city police chief.

Published in Dawn, September 24th, 2014