GUJRAT: Police have arrested a ‘serial killer’ who confessed to have killed three men separately for having homosexual tendencies, after luring them into relationship.

District Police Officer Rai Ijaz Ahmed told reporters at a news conference here on Tuesday that a prayer leader had been gunned down at Chak Kamala village in Tanda police precincts around 15 months ago.

He said police had been probing into the killing mainly from sectarian angle as the slain man belonged to Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.

Similarly, he said, in February 2014, another man was also found shot dead at his house in Farooqabad locality of Jalalpur Jattan and in May 2014, a trader of the same town was gunned down at his shop.

The DPO said solving these murder cases had become a challenge for police. He said the police found some commonalities in the three murders like all of the victims were shot in their privates and suspected they were committed by a single killer.

Meanwhile, he said, a suspect, Abdul Rehman (22), a resident of Chak Kamala, was traced through a cell phone taken away during the killing of the trader and then sold.

The suspect had been in jail allegedly after killing his cousin. He was later released following reconciliation with the family of the deceased.

The DPO said the suspect was arrested near Gujrat district courts by Sadar DSP Raja Sadaqat and Jalalpur Jattan city SHO Iftikhar Tarrar a few days ago.

He said Rehman in his confessional statement said he hated homosexuals and that he would develop relations with men having such tendency and then kill them. The DPO said such criminals were often victims of social injustice, illiteracy and poverty and had serious flaws in their upbringing.

The Gujrat police also claimed to have solved the murder case of a married woman whose husband lived abroad.

The woman was apparently killed during a house robbery in Maqboolabad area in Lorry Adda police precincts around two months ago.

The DPO said according to police investigation, the brother of the slain woman’s husband turned out to be her killer.

He said suspect Samran Naeem along with his three accomplices -- Salman Ijaz, Vicky and Rizwan -- allegedly killed his sister-in-law when she recognised him during the house robbery.

The suspect had also looted cash, gold ornaments and other valuables from the house.

Published in Dawn, May 14th, 2014.