LAHORE, Oct 21: An alleged kidnapper-cum-murderer in the custody of Iqbal Town CIA police was killed when the pistol he had snatched from his guard in an attempt to escape went off ‘mysteriously’ near Tajpura Scheme in Ghaziabad police precincts on Tuesday.

Muhammad Asghar Zafar, of Mughalpura, was principal of two private academies in Mughalpura and Harbanspura and was being interrogated for kidnapping and murdering his student Asif, 18, and later burying him in the courtyard of his Harbanspura academy branch.

CIA SP Muhammad Umer Virk told Dawn that Sub-Inspector Syed Ibrar Shah was brining Asghar to a place in Harbanspura to recover a cell phone which he used for communication.

As they reached near Harbanspura, Asghar tried to snatch official pistol of the SI in an attempt to flee.

During the scuffle, the SP claimed, the pistol which Asghar had already snatched from the SI went off and he received two bullets. The SI took Asghar to Mayo Hospital where he succumbed to his injuries.

The SP said Asghar, who had developed an affair with a female student of his academy and Asif had seen them in compromising condition, first abducted Asif, who was the only child of his parents, and took him to Harbanspura academy where he strangled him with a wire and later buried him in the courtyard of the academy.

The culprit then sent an SMS through his cell phone to Asif’s father and demanded Rs80,000 for his release.

The Mughalpura police registered a kidnap-for-ransom case and later took Asghar into custody who confessed that he had committed the crime in connivance with his two former students.

The SP said Asghar was handed over to the CIA police by the Mughalpura investigation police eight days back.