ISLAMABAD, Feb 15: The Secretariat police on Tuesday arrested two persons for allegedly murdering an employee of the Quaid-i-Azam University (QAU) on February 10 after they robbed him of his car.

Deputy Superintendent of Police Liaquat Niazi told Dawn that three persons – FU, SHU and MS from Karak – were behind the murder of Imran Pervez, who worked as assistant in the university’s information technology department. After murdering Pervez, the killers along with the vehicle took away Rs1,100, his cellphone and CNIC.

But they abandoned the vehicle after it broke down. Pervez, 28, a resident of Muslim Town, Rawalpindi, used his vehicle as cab after finishing his duties in the university. Married eight months ago, his role as cabdriver would start with dropping some of university colleagues at their homes.

He last talked with his family on the cellphone around 8:15pm, promising to return home in 30 to 45 minutes. At 9pm when the family called, his cellphone was switched off. The worried family informed the Rescue 15. A policy party found his abandoned car on the old University Road and his body was recovered from the wooded area nearby.

The two arrested accused told police that their third accomplice had escaped to Karak, taking with him Pervez’s cellphone. According to police, they hired Pervez’s cab for a trip to Adiala Road from the University Chowk. On the way back, they asked Pervez to take them to a shrine of Kakajee Sarkar near the Gate 5 of the QAU. There on the deserted road they overpowered and took him to the nearby wooded area. Police said when Pervez yelled and a car passed by, they strangled him. They drove away the car but it broke down, forcing them to abandon it.

Police said the three accused, who had been living in a rented room of the newly-established Muslim Colony near Bari Imam for the last four months, were committing robberies in Rawalpindi. On Tuesday, when two of the accused returned to their room, police arrested them. Police said the residents of the colony were also wary of their activities.