A policeman committed suicide by shooting himself to avoid arrest after law enforcers identified him as the main suspect in the recent killing of a man during a robbery at Karachi's Kashmir Road, police said on Tuesday.

A 28-year-old recently married man, identified as Shahrukh, was shot dead by a lone robber upon resistance on Kashmir Road on Jan 12.

SSP-East Qamar Raza Jiskani had said that two women, said to be the mother and sister of the victim, got off from a rickshaw outside their home, where a lone armed mugger, who was following them, tried to snatch their gold ornaments. In the meantime, Shahrukh came to open the door and the mugger fired at him and fled.

The victim died on the spot. The CCTV footage of the incident had later gone viral on social media, prompting calls for the arrest of the culprit.

Also read: Robbers on rampage as trader, two others killed upon resistance in Karachi

The police had subsequently started conducting raids to arrest the main suspect.

In a statement today, police said investigators had identified constable Farzand Ali Jaffery, 40, as the prime suspect in the case and began a search for him.

According to police, the constable shot himself dead near Gulshan-i-Iqbal's Block-7 on Monday night to avoid arrest.

The deceased constable was posted at West Zone headquarters. He was last posted at the SSP West (Investigation) office for security duties.

However, a source told Dawn.com that the deceased constable was not turning up to office since Jan 14.

The source added that an in-charge of security duty in the West Zone had also conveyed to higher authorities that the constable was not performing his duty.