The investigation into the killing of a local businessman in Karachi took a grim turn Wednesday after police identified his own son as the mastermind behind the crime.
Investigators confirmed the arrest of the victim’s son, who allegedly hired professional hitmen to eliminate his father over a long-standing financial dispute. The victim, a resident of the city’s Gulshan-e-Iqbal area, was gunned down outside his home last week. Initial reports suggested a robbery gone wrong, but detectives grew suspicious after noticing inconsistencies in the son’s testimony during the first round of questioning.
“The digital trail proved more reliable than the witness statements,” said a senior officer familiar with the case. Forensic teams recovered encrypted messages from the suspect’s phone, detailing payments made to the assailants and a pre-planned escape route.
The motive, according to police, centers on a property inheritance claim that turned violent. The suspect had reportedly been pressuring his father to transfer land titles for months, leading to heated arguments that eventually escalated into a contract killing.
This case marks the second time in less than a year that a Karachi murder investigation has led back to the victim’s own household. Last October, authorities uncovered a similar plot in District Central, where a son-in-law conspired with the victim’s children to stage a home invasion that ended in a fatal shooting.
The suspect is currently being held at the area’s police station, where he is expected to face charges of premeditated murder and conspiracy. Officers are now tracking the whereabouts of the two gunmen, who fled the scene on a motorcycle immediately after the shooting.
For the victim’s family, the arrest brings a bitter end to a week of mourning. For Karachi’s investigators, it highlights a recurring trend of domestic disputes morphing into extreme violence, often hidden behind the city’s broader narrative of street crime.
