Lahore police arrested a suspect in the Mianwali district after a man was found dead in the servant quarters of an outhouse belonging to PTI leader Mian Aslam Iqbal.

A day ago, a team of Lahore’s Samanabad police had been alerted about the body and recovered it, following which a case was registered against unidentified individuals.

“A joint team arrested the suspect, Constable Arshad, from Mianwali,” read an official statement issued today by Faisal Kamran, the Crime Investigation Agency (CIA) deputy inspector general (DIG).

According to sources, an initial investigation had revealed that Arshad, a CIA official, was living in the servant quarters he had rented through a property dealer.

The investigation had further revealed that Arshad had neither been attending his office for the last month nor he could be contacted. Police were still trying to identify the man found dead.

DIG Kamran confirmed in his statement today that Arshad had rented the “quarters on the dera (outhouse) belonging to Mian Aslam”.

“The suspect admitted the murder [and] also told us the initial details,” the DIG said, adding that Arshad had thrown the tool of murder in a river after committing the alleged crime.

He further said the suspect had tried to hide in his sister’s residence in Mianwali and that further investigation was underway.

The statement did not mention any alleged involvement or action taken against Iqbal.

Iqbal, a former Punjab minister, is a seasoned politician with over two decades of experience in parliamentary politics, becoming an MPA in 2002.

After the 2024 general elections, Iqbal was picked by the PTI as its nominee for the chief minister slot. However, he was later replaced with Rana Aftab Ahmed — who lost to PML-N’s Maryam Nawaz — as Iqbal had not taken oath as MPA, fearing his arrest by the Punjab police.

Iqbal was among PTI leaders who were declared proclaimed offenders in the Jinnah House attack case over the May 9, 2023 riots.

On Sunday, additional director Waqas Ahmed of the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) was found dead inside his room at a guest house in Islamabad.

The same day, a “missing” employee of Karachi’s Jinnah Postgraduate Medical Centre, who also worked as an estate agent, was found dead in the city’s Clifton area. Earlier this month, the body of a trader, who was allegedly kidnapped the week before, was found at Karachi’s Seaview.