KARACHI: The bail of a man who was arrested by the London Metropolitan Police in the murder of former Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) leader Dr Imran Farooq was extended on Tuesday, DawnNews reported.

The 52-year old man, a British citizen of Pakistani origin, was arrested in June from London’s Heathrow Airport. The man had just arrived in Britain from Canada before the police arrested him.

After his arrest, he was taken to a west London police station for questioning before being released on bail two days later which was to last until a date in September.

The extension in his bail comes days after the London police said that the slain politician’s wish to launch a new political party before his death remained a key line of probe in the murder investigation. The MQM subsequently said the idea that Farooq was seeking to form a new political party was simply unimaginable.

MQM leader Dr Imran Farooq, aged 50, was on his way home from work when he was attacked in Green Lane on Sept 16, 2010 outside his London home. A post-mortem examination found that he died from multiple stab wounds and blunt trauma to the head.

The 52-year-old man’s was the first arrest carried out by London Police in relation to Farooq’s killing and has so far been the most significant progress in the case in over a year.

Farooq, one of the founding members of the MQM, then known as the Mohajir Qaumi Movement, had been living in self-imposed exile in London since 1999.

The party later transformed into the Muttahida Qaumi Movement and became the fourth largest political force in parliament, and is the largest political party in Karachi.