Adeel-Tatla case: Zodiac killer cop lands in lockup.

LAHORE -- A senior superintendent of police (SSP) who was missing since last month has been arrested after he returned to Pakistan due to the fear of coronavirus spreading in Iran.

Sources said that security agencies detained SSP Mufakhar Adeel from the Pakistan-Iran border and handed him over to Lahore police.

Adeel's close friend and former additional advocate general Shahbaz Ahmad Tatla had also been missing since February 7.

In his initial statement, Adeel conceded that he had planned the murder of Tatla because he was threatening to assault his wife after having raped his former spouse in 2012.

Police sources said SSP Adeel left his house in Nawab Town on an official vehicle on February 11, saying he was going to investigate an important case. When he did not contact his family and friends until the next day, his wife reported him missing.

Legal hiccups delaying Adeel-Tatla case probe

Senior police officers met the wife of Adeel and took details. After searching for Adeel for several hours, police found his locked official vehicle near Faisal Town market.

The police revealed that Mufakhar's close friend and former additional advocate general Shahbaz Ahmad Tatla had also been missing since February 7. The case of his abduction was lodged by his brother at Naseerabad police station.

When the police obtained their mobile phone data during the search for both missing men, it indicated that they were involved in licentious activities. Both of them not only dealt in the property business but had also established a CSS competitive exams training academy at Kalma Chowk, Ferozepur Road. The two friends had rented a furnished house for Rs75,000 in Faisal Town for 10 days, telling its owner that a delegation from abroad would reside there. However, dance parties were arranged in the house.

While looking for a clue to the disappearance of Adeel and Tatla, the police detained their friend Asad Bhatti, who claimed during the investigation that Adeel had strangled Tatla in the house in Faisal Town and dissolved his body in a drum full of chemical. He alleged that the officers had thrown Tatla's remains in Rohi stream from his official vehicle.

After Bhatti's statement, police...