KARACHI: Police on Monday claimed to have arrested a man who was caught on camera killing a factory manager earlier this month in Buffer Zone when he refused to pay protection money.

With his face covered by a piece of cloth, suspect Abdul Raheem was presented before reporters by DIG-West Tahir Naveed.

Speaking at a press conference, the DIG said that the suspect was also involved in the December 2014 killing of Dr Arif Mustafa Siddiqi, a senior medical officer at the Abbasi Shaheed Hospital.

“He went to collect only Rs2,000 as protection money but killed factory manager Saleemuddin when he refused to pay,” he said. “We gathered evidence from the crime scene which included the key CCTV footage which led to his identification.”

The DIG said that the suspect was allegedly involved in collection of protection money from industrial units and professionals in New Karachi and Buffer Zone.

The chilling 50-second footage first showed the suspect, armed with a pistol, arguing with the victim. The two were joined by other factory workers but they disappeared as the debate became heated.

The scary part of the footage was the last 10 seconds when the suspect, while listening to the factory manager, fired a single shot that apparently hit him in the abdomen and he fell. The attacker walked off, but returned within a second only to pump two more bullets into the wounded man.

The killer left but came again and fired another shot in the head at point-blank range and then escaped.

The footage, originally acquired by investigators, went viral on social media sites. This actually helped the Gabol Town police to arrest the suspected killer in Bengali Para in New Karachi, said the DIG.

“His two accomplices — Ahmed and Anwar — who were waiting outside the factory at the time of the incident are still at large but we are hopeful that we will arrest them also. These three men are also involved in the killing of Dr Arif Mustafa Siddiqi in December 2014 for the same extortion reason,” he said.

“We have so far traced four cases of killings that were executed by these three men one way or the other. One of the four murders was of a police constable in North Karachi Industrial Area, as the three men attacked a police mobile when it tried to stop them during snap-checking.”

Published in Dawn, January 27th, 2015

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