LAHORE: Police claimed on Tuesday a detained brother of Justice Javed Iqbal had killed his parents for money in connivance with two other men.
Lahore police chief Aslam Tareen told reporters that one of the accomplices, Abbas, had also been arrested and raids were being carried out to catch the other killer, Amin.
Naveed Iqbal, a dismissed official of Punjab police, had been arrested on the basis of some circumstantial evidence and later his involvement in the case was confirmed, he said.
The police official said the suspect plotted to kill his parents to get money to repay loans he had taken from several people.
The suspect did not have a good reputation in his area and his relatives had severed relations with him because of his ‘bad character’, Mr Tareen added.
He said the investigators’ doubts had strengthened the day after the murder when they found out that the suspect had been missing since the tragedy.
Malik Abdul Hameed, 80, and Zarina, 70, were found murdered in their house on Jan 11. A case was registered against unknown robbers on the complaint of Saeed Iqbal, another brother of Justice Javed.
Mr Tareen said the suspect had confessed to his crime.
Police also produced Abbas before the media and he confessed to having committed the murder. He said Naveed had also borrowed money from him.
On the day of the incident, Naveed offered him a job at his parents’ home in Cavalry Ground and took him there. Later, he disclosed his plan of killing them to steal money from the house distribute it among themselves. He agreed to the plot and Amin was also present when it was finalised, he said.
The city police chief said Abbas and Amin overpowered the elderly couple and Naveed suffocated them with a pillow. Abdul Hameed died immediately, but Naveed tortured Zarina, his stepmother, to death when he found her alive, he said.
Mr Tareen said Naveed’s parents had continued supporting him even when his other close relatives had dissociated themselves from him. He did not work for several years and used to borrow money from his friends and other people.
He said Naveed was living in a house in Shahdara that Abdul Hameed had purchased for him. He also gave his son Rs1.6 million.
Abbas and Amin were residents of the same area.
After killing the couple, the suspects looted cash from the house and also took away a briefcase which contained some documents belonging to Mr Hameed. They escaped on a rickshaw towards Shahdara.
They then broke open the lock of the briefcase on Shahdara Morr and distributed the money on the Ravi belt, the CCPO said.
According to investigators, Naveed, the youngest brother of Justice Javed, did not attend the funeral of his parents. He was a sub-inspector before he was dismissed from service on disciplinary grounds.
