10th Dec 2011 The Express Tribune
LAHORE: What was at one point considered target killing of a journalist, has turned out to be murder for monetary reasons as police claimed to have arrested the killer of The London Post journalist, Faisal Qureshi, on Friday.
Qureshi, a columnist for the “The London Post” had been butchered under mysterious circumstances at his residence in Lahore’s Johar Town on October 7, 2011. At the time Police had registered a case against unknown assailants on the application of his brother, Zahid Ahmad Qureshi, also a journalist in Britain.
Zahid Qureshi had alleged at the time that the murder was a target killing carried out by the MQM because his brother was said to be an ardent critic of the party.
On Friday, police announced the arrest of Faisal Hameed Qureshi, a childhood friend of The London Post columnist. Police further alleged that Qureshi had killed the journalist for monetary gains.
The accused Hameed Qureshi allegedly confessed to the police that he had murdered his friend because he was in dire need of funds to pay another friend, Ishtiaq Ahmad, whose motorbike had been stolen while in Hameed Qureshi’s possession.
Police, who had arrested the accused on account of suspicion, said that during his confession, Hameed Qureshi revealed that in order to pay back Ahmad, he had borrowed Rs20,000 from his brother. Though still short of the required sum, Hameed Qureshi decided to murder his old friend, whom he considered well off with residence in a posh area.
Hameed Qureshi said that after allegedly murdering the victim, he changed his clothes, and threw the knife (murder weapon) and the blood stained clothes in a canal near Doctor’s Hospital. Following his deed, Hameed Qureshi used The London Post journalist’s ATM card to withdraw Rs20,000. The victim had given Hameed Qureshi the PIN code of his card before being killed, police said, pointing to numbers scratched into a wall at the scene of the crime.
Hameed Qureshi then paid Rs15,000 to Ishtiaq Ahmad, promising him the rest of the payments soon.
Police have recovered a laptop, and a wallet belonging to the slain journalist. Three mobile phones belonging to the victim were recovered from mobile shops at Chowk Yateem Khana.
