Man, son arrested over killing of alleged blackmailer

SAHIWAL: Police have arrested a man and his son on allegations of killing a person whom investigators say had been blackmailing their family.

City Police Officer Sahibzada Bilal Umar, speaking at a press conference alongside other officials, said the case was initially registered on April 9 after Azhar Iqbal reported that his 50-year-old brother, Javed, had been abducted from the Factory Area.

According to the police officer, the case was first lodged under Section 365, and investigation teams were constituted to trace the missing man and examine the circumstances of the reported abduction.

Case shifted from abduction to murder

Police later detained the main suspect, who was identified as a resident of Krishna Nagar. During interrogation, officials said, he confessed that he and his son had taken the victim to Sahiwal after luring him there on the pretext of going fishing.

Investigators said the victim was then killed, his body was stripped, and the remains were disposed of. Police added that an unidentified body recovered earlier in the area was later identified as that of Javed, after which the case was converted from abduction to murder.

Officials said the suspects had planned the killing in advance. According to the police account, they took the victim to Chak No. 127-RB, where the son allegedly overpowered him while the father slit his throat.

Police further said that parts of the body were later discarded at different locations.

Police cite family dispute

An official said the victim had intended to marry a 14-year-old girl, a move that had been opposed by the family. The same official said the victim had allegedly been blackmailing the family.

At the press conference, CPO Sahibzada Bilal Umar said the investigation progressed after the registration of the April 9 case and the formation of dedicated teams. Police then moved to arrest the suspect from Krishna Nagar and, based on the interrogation, pieced together the sequence of events that led to the recovery and identification of the body.

The arrests mark a significant development in the case first reported as an abduction from the Factory Area. With the identification of the body and the statements obtained during the investigation, police have now proceeded with the matter as a murder case.

No further details were provided in the police briefing beyond the account of the alleged motive, the location where the killing was said to have taken place, and the subsequent disposal of the body.