GUJRAT: Police claim to have arrested the main suspect involved in the murder of a young fitness coach near the A-Division Police Station on the second day of Eidul Azha.

The suspect, Malik Zainul Abedin (23), though himself an illiterate person, had formed a gang of students involved in various violent incidents of firing and torture of college students for the last couple of years, a senior police official told Dawn.

They murdered Shahbaz Shafiq Mughal (27) of Chah Borewala, a trainer at the gym on the Sargodha Road owned by his cousin Umar Shafqaat on June 30.

Shahbaz and Shafqaat were going back to their home from the gym when three motorcyclists, namely Zain of Tariqabad Mohallah, Asad Iftikhar of Bora Piyara and an unidentified man, intercepted them near the A-Division Police Station.

Zain allegedly opened fire at Shahbaz and a bullet hit his chest, leaving him critically injured while the assailants fled towards the Fowara Chowk. The injured succumbed to the wounds at the Aziz Bhatti Shaheed Teaching Hospital (ABSTH).

Police had registered a case against the suspects.

Gujrat City DSP Asad Ishaq told Dawn police arrested Zain from a senior lawyer’s house in the district Hafizabad whereas raids were being conducted to arrest the remaining two suspects.

He said Zain was already involved in several cases of violence but each time he was booked and arrested by police, he would reconcile with the complainants, leading to his release from custody.

Published in Dawn, July 4th, 2023