The Karachi police arrested a Union Council chairman among 14 other suspects involved in the lynching of an Ahmadi man in the city’s Saddar area, an official said on Monday.

Laeeq Ahmad Cheema, a 46-year-old businessman, was beaten to death when hundreds of Tehreek-i-Labbaik Pakistan (TLP) supporters stormed a hall belonging to the Ahmadiyya community to prevent them from observing religious rituals.

TLP workers allegedly thrashed Cheema, who was supposedly recording a video of the mob, near the auto parts market at some distance from the worship place. He was later taken to the Civil Hospital, where he succumbed to his injuries.

South Deputy Inspector General of Police (DIG) Syed Asad Raza told Dawn.com, “In total, 15 suspects have been arrested so far with help of CCTV footage and technical data.” He added that they were present at the crime scene and took part in it.

The official elaborated that the arrested suspects included a UC chairman. “UC Chairman Kharadar Yasir Akhtari was arrested with the help of locater from a warehouse in New Karachi.”

DIG Raza said that 14 others were also arrested from different areas. He continued, “They [arrested suspects] were physically present at the murder scene,” adding that they belonged to the TLP.

Yesterday, the police detained 13 suspects during raids as a first information report (FIR) was filed by the victim’s relative at the Preedy police station.

DIG Raza had said that six culprits involved in the lynching were identified in a crowd of around 15-20 persons.

He further said that one of them was the UC chairman of Kharadar, adding that the suspect had contested and won on a TLP ticket.

He said the three other suspects were nominated in a previous vandalism case against TLP in 2023 pertaining to the same site, with Cheema being the only eyewitness to the incident.

DIG Raza told Dawn.com today that during the preliminary probe, it was found that “a handful of people of affiliated with religious party conspired to eliminate Cheema as he was a sole witness in their earlier vandalism case”.

He said that “they [suspects] hid their real intentions and cried out that a robber had been caught to create a false impression among the bystanders”.

“They also took out valuables from the pocket of the victim to draw the attention of other people towards robbery,” he added.

“It was not a clarion call to eliminate an Ahmadi man,” he said, adding, “They wanted to create the perception that it was vigilante justice for a robbery.”

Last month, the HRCP said it had observed a growing trend of mob-led attacks on homes of families belonging to religious minorities, as well as their places of worship.

The HRCP also spoke of Ahmadis’ “arbitrary detention”, “desecration of their graves” and the “vulnerability of Hindu and Christian women” to forced conversion.

The report, titled Under Siege: Freedom of Religion or Belief in 2023-24, said over 750 persons were in prison on charges of blasphemy, as of October last year. It documented at least four faith-based killings, three of which targeted the Ahmadi community.

A key finding of the report is that disinformation on social media was the spark behind most of the registered blasphemy cases.

The HRCP observed an “increasing weaponisation of blasphe­­my laws against Ahmadis”, with cases often initiated by law enforcement officials themselves.