KARACHI, Feb 16: Police on Saturday claimed to have solved a mystery behind the murder of artist Gulgee, his wife Zareen Gulgee and a maidservant with the arrest of two suspects. Among the suspects is the artist’s driver.

A senior police official, however, said that robbery was not the “only motive” behind the triple murder. The bodies of the three were found inside the Clifton residence of Abdul Mohammad Ismail, popularly known as Gulgee, on Dec 19.

“Driver Akram played the main role in the whole episode. He was assisted by his friend Anwar who specially came from Lahore,” IG Sindh Azhar Ali Farooqi told a press conference.

“The arrest came after a consistent surveillance of all suspects and intelligence agencies assisted the police’s anti-violent crime unit headed by DIG Investigations Manzoor Ahmed Mughal in the investigation,” he added.

The IG denied the involvement of artist’s son, Amin Gulgee, in the crime and said: “There is no significance in speculations that Amin Gulgee was a suspect in the incident.”

He said the driver, who belonged to Punjab, was hired by the family in the first week of December, but he was not satisfied with his salary.

“He shared this concern with maidservant Aasia, who encouraged him to a break-in and theft of a box of the artist filled with cash,” he said.

“To execute his plans Akram invited Anwar from Lahore and tried to get his accomplice employed as a cook. However, Gulgee’s wife rejected him.”On the night of Dec 18, Akram managed to bring Anwar inside the home and waited for Gulgee, who was out for some personal visit. When Gulgee came home, Akram put a cloth on his face while Anwar hit the artist’s head with an axe. This proved fatal. They also killed Zareen in a similar manner.

“Since they found the cash short of their expectations, they waited whole night in the bungalow and the next morning when the maidservant came they inquired from her about more cash. When she showed ignorance, they caught hold of her and killed her,” he added.