• Suspect admitted booking ride to snatch car.
• Says he was inspired by a video game.
• Victim was found dead in Karachi’s Scheme 33.

Karachi District East police have claimed to resolve the mystery behind the murder of an online ride-hailing driver in the city, as it arrested a suspect allegedly involved in his killing as part of a “carjacking adventure” inspired by a video game, The News reported on Thursday.

The suspect, himself, has said this in a video statement in addition to also stating that he booked the ride with the intention of snatching the car, the police said.

Shahzaib, a young man from Hyderabad, was found dead in the bushes in Karachi’s Scheme 33 neighbourhood on November 10, after he drove a passenger from Hyderabad to Karachi.

Following the murder, the District East’s deputy inspector general and senior superintendent of police formed a special team to probe the killing, the police spokesperson said.

On their instructions, the operation and investigation wings of the Sachal police station conducted a raid during which a suspect, identified as Abdul Samad, was taken into custody.

The arrest was made following the leads obtained from technical analyses of the data of the GPS tracker installed in the car, CCTV footage of the area and other evidence collected during the probe.

The spokesperson said that the initial investigation found that the suspect took the driver’s life during a “carjacking adventure”. Samad had hired Shahzaib through an online ride-hailing service to travel in the city.

As they reached near Punjabi Sodagaran Society, the suspect pointed a pistol at the driver, demanding he stop the car. Shahzaib stopped the vehicle after which Samad shot him in the neck and the injury proved fatal.

However, the suspect’s plan to steal the car was foiled as the GPS tracker deactivated the engine. The weapon used in the murder along with bullets was recovered from the suspect’s possession.

On the day of the incident, Shahzaib had booked a ride from Hyderabad to Karachi’s Korangi area. After dropping the passenger, he booked another ride which was called by the suspect.

Meanwhile, the suspect in a video statement said that he killed the driver during a carjacking adventure inspired by a video game. He said that he had booked the ride with the intention of snatching the car.

He said that he tried to stop Shahzaib’s bleeding but could not, then he put the body in the car’s backseat and drove to a secluded area, where he dumped it in the bushes. He said that he cleaned the car and attempted to restart it but failed, after which he ran away. He revealed that the pistol was licensed and belonged to his father.

The police were informed by the relatives of the deceased after they tracked down the car using its GPS location. During the initial probe, police had suspected the involvement of a woman in the crime following the recovery of jewellery from the car.