KARACHI, April 18: Police on Friday claimed to have arrested two suspects involved in the murder of a retired professor of Karachi University.

The body of 75-year-old professor Dr Zeba Zakia was found dumped in the bushes on January 29 from the jurisdiction of Sachal police station. The retired professor was unmarried and used to live alone in Block 13-D1 of Gulshan-i-Iqbal, said sub-inspector Shahid Qureshi, the case inquiry officer.

The deceased’s car (AGM-515) had also been missing since her murder, police said.

As the case was initially blind, call data of the deceased’s cellular phone was recovered. It showed four calls were made from her cellphone, which proved a crucial lead in the investigation.

The inquiry officer said investigation revealed that the deceased’s driver, Saleem, and her housemaid, Khalda, were involved in the murder. He said that Saleem, who had joined the job just two days before the murder, was believed to be an associate of Munir Ahmed Khan Abbasi, the secretary of a former health minister of Punjab, Chaudhry Ijaz Shafi.

Mr Abbasi used to visit Karachi regularly for recreation purposes and resided in Block 13-D1 of Gulshan-i-Iqbal, the IO said. The missing car is believed to be in possession of Mr Abbasi or his friends in Rahimyar Khan, the IO said.

Following the murder, several valuables, including microwave, television, telephone, wrist watch etc, were found missing from the house. Police claimed to have recovered all these items from the possession of Saleem and Khalda.

A police party was expected to leave for Rahimyar Khan soon to carry out some more arrests and recover the stolen vehicle after getting permission from the home departments of Sindh and Punjab governments, the inquiry officer added.