KARACHI: Police on Saturday claimed to have arrested a man for his alleged involvement in the murder of a woman whose body was found in Clifton earlier this week.

On Nov 25, the body of the woman, identified as Shehnaz Arshad Gill, was recovered in Clifton near Urban Forest with visible marks of torture. Later, an autopsy found that she was sexually assaulted before being murdered. South DIG Syed Asad Raza told Dawn that a resident of Akhtar Colony, who was familiar with the victim, had been arrested.

During grilling, the suspect told investigators that the victim was his friend and they both met on Nov 22 near Clifton. However, a scuffle broke out between them over a monetary issue. In the ensuing scuffle, she snatched his phone. That made him furious, and he killed her by repeatedly hitting her head and face with a boulder. Later, he fled the scene after stealing her phone as well as some cash from her purse.

The DIG said the suspect had confessed to the crime. He said that in order to hide her identity, the suspect smashed the victim’s face with a heavy stone and blackened her fingers with a cigarette lighter.

The stolen mobile phone was recovered from him, he added.

Gill was a resident of Saeedabad, Baldia Town, but originally hailed from Mian Channu in Khanewal district of Punjab. She had been missing since Nov 22, and a report regarding her disappearance was registered at the Madina Colony police station by her son.

Police surgeon Dr Summaiya Syed had said the woman’s body, with disfigured facial features and in the early stages of decomposition, was found in an open area within the jurisdiction of the Boat Basin police station.

Published in Dawn, November 30th, 2025