GUJRANWALA, Jan 12: A serial killer of call girls, reportedly a religious fanatic, has been arrested dramatically by the Gujranwala police.

This was given out by District Police Officer Syed Saud Aziz while talking to newsmen here on Sunday.

A father of eight children, Muhammad Sarwar Mughal of Baghbanpura with a full grown beard has the reputation of a pious man. The accused is a prosperous hardware shopkeeper at Dol Bazaar. The DPO said the accused had made a clean breast of killing three prostitutes and injuring two others and a rickshaw driver. He said the task of tracking down the serial killer had become a challenge for the police.

In the presence of newsmen and ASP Rao Abdul Karim, the accused confessed to have killed Ruqqaya Bibi on Sept 8, Aroof alias Dabi on Nov 3, 2002, and Bilqees alias Aleene on Jan 2, 2003, and injured Musarrat Bibi, Bushra and the rickshaw driver.

Accused Mughal told newsmen that he had never been a member of any religious party, but wanted to purge society of harlots whose numbers were growing alarmingly particularly in Gujranwala.

He alleged the police did not pay any heed to his repeated complaints against the growing prostitution, therefore, he himself had to take on the job. Only one whore could spoil hundreds of people which I could not bear, the accused maintained. He claimed the girls he had killed were genuinely involved in prostitution.

He said he would first bargain with the prostitutes and then kill them. The accused said he had no regret at all and would have killed all prostitutes had he not been arrested. About his eight minor children, he said Allah Almighty would take care of them.