LAHORE: A doctor who was kidnapped on Jan 22 was murdered for money. Dr Wasim Iqbal was strangled to death and his body dumped in an open drain in Samanabad, police sources quoted the prime suspect as saying.

A police source said the prime suspect involved in the murder of the eye specialist had been arrested on Friday. The suspect was a manager at a restaurant on Ferozepur Road and had kidnapped and killed Dr Iqbal for money.

Based on information gleaned from the arrested suspect, various teams of Rescue 1122 started making efforts on Saturday to recover Dr Iqbal’s body.

Naseerabad police lodged a case on the complaint of Dr Iqbal’s father, Muhammad Iqbal, a resident of Firdous Market, Gulberg. According to the first information report (FIR), Dr Iqbal was kidnapped on the day of his minor daughter’s birthday on Jan 22.

Model Town Investigation Superintendent of Police (SP) Dr Anosh Masood Chaudhry said the details pertaining to the arrest of the suspect would be shared once investigations were completed. She said a joint team of experts from police and the forensic agency was at the crime scene to collect evidences. She confirmed that Dr Iqbal was murdered for money, adding that raids were being conducted to arrest the remaining culprits involved in the killing.

Dr Iqbal’s father told police that his son had stopped responding to the family’s calls after he left for work at 1:30pm on Jan 22. The family contacted his assistant at a hospital, Mohammad Waqas, who said Dr Iqbal called him at 3pm and asked him to cancel all his appointments. Later, the deceased did not attend any calls the entire day.

A police officer said a team, which was conducting the search operation of the body, suspended its activity due to poor visibility on Saturday night. The operation will be resumed on Sunday morning (today), he added.

Published in Dawn, January 27th, 2019