KARACHI, Nov 25 The body of a young man was found in his partially burnt car in a Nazimabad locality within the remit of the Rizvia Society police station on Wednesday, police said.

The body of 25-year-old Shoaib Ahmed Siddiqi, a fashion model, was found tied with the seat belt of the partially burnt car he had borrowed from one of his friends on Tuesday to meet a girl, police said.

Rizvia SHO Sub-Inspector Bilal Raza told Dawn that a deep mark was found around the victim's neck and a post-mortem examination established that he had been strangled to death with the seat belt.

“It seems that the killer or killers tied him up with the car's passenger seat safety belt and tried to set the vehicle on fire.”

He said that the body of the car suggested that its rear side caught fire but it was either put out or it died out before it could engulf the whole vehicle. The victim's body remained unaffected by the fire, he added.

An initial probe suggested that Shoaib, a resident of Shadman Town, was fond of a girl who lived in Nazimabad No 1. Despite serious opposition from her family, the young couple used to meet regularly, the police said.

The area SHO said that Shoaib left his house on Tuesday evening after informing his younger brother and a close friend that he was going to meet the girl. He also told them that he would try to meet the girl's brother and have a word with him.

“The younger brother and the friend remained in touch with Shoaib over the phone till late Tuesday, but after 3am on Wednesday they lost contact as Shoaib's phone stopped responding,” he added.

He said Shoaib's family approached the Rizvia police station within whose jurisdiction fell the residence of the girl.

The police found the body inside the partially burnt car early in the morning. The car was parked in an open plot of land in Jehangirabad.

Later, they registered a case (FIR 347/2009) under Sections 302 (premeditated murder), 435 (mischief by fire or explosive substance with intent to cause damage to amount of one hundred rupees) and 34 (common intention) of the Pakistan Penal Code on the complaint of the victim's elder brother, Obaid Ahmed Siddiqi, against the girl's elder brother, Asad.

Woman shot dead in Orangi

A 40-year-old woman was gunned down allegedly by her husband in Orangi Town on Wednesday, police said.

They said that Akbar Khan, an estate agent, allegedly shot dead his second wife, Parveen, in Sector 10, Orangi Town within the remit of the Mominabad police station and escaped.

Mominabad SHO Sub-Inspector Shabbir Awan told Dawn that Parveen, who was divorced by her first husband some nine years ago, married Akbar Khan some eight years back and had a child. She had seven children from her first husband.

He said Akbar was already married with Yasmeen, with whom he had four children, when he tied the knot with Parveen.

The SHO said that Akbar Khan was the bread earner of two families and often faced financial problems.

The police said that an initial probe suggested that the couple exchanged hot words when Parveen demanded money to meet household expenses. The quarrel between the couple took an ugly turn when an enraged Akbar took out his unlicensed TT pistol and fired at his wife. She sustained a single bullet wound in the forehead and died.

They said that Akbar managed to escape. The body of the victim was shifted to the Abbasi Shaheed Hospital for a post-mortem examination.

The police said that an FIR into the incident would be lodged after completing legal formalities.