Jamshoro police on Tuesday arrested a co-accused in the murder of 19-year-old student Tania Khaskheli in Sanghar, police said on Wednesday.

Senior Superintendent Police (SSP) Jamshoro Irfan Bahadur confirmed the arrest of Ali Noohani from Sanghar. He was produced before journalists on Wednesday night.

The SSP told the press that Ali had accompanied Khan Muhammad, alias Khan Noohani, the prime accused in the case, on a motorbike to Khaskheli's house. He said that he waited outside Khaskheli's house as Khan killed her.

Ali allegedly told police he was not aware Khan was going to murder Khaskheli, as he had been informed by Khan that he was going to retrieve a cellphone from her.

After the murder, Khan and Ali fled the scene of the crime, the SSP said.

He said the co-accused had been handed over to a team constituted under the Additional Inspector General Sindh Aftab Pathan's supervision, adding that the bike used by both suspects had been recovered and handed over to the investigation team.

Tania Khaskheli was gunned down on Sept 7 in the the town of Jhangara-Bajara near Sehwan, Jamshoro district, allegedly after she turned down Khan Noohani's marriage proposal.

Khaskheli's parents, at a press conference earlier this month, alleged that Khan, an influential feudal lord, along with his armed associates, had barged into their house and shot their daughter dead.

The girl’s parents claimed that Khan had been pressing them to marry Khaskheli to him, but they had turned down the proposal.

They alleged that Khan had twice tried to kidnap her in the recent past. On the evening of Sept 7, they claimed, Khan, along with Maula Bakhsh and an unknown person, barged into their house and terrified them with their weapons.

They alleged that the armed men tried to take away the girl but upon seeing the strong resistance put up by the family, Khan became furious and shot Tania.

Khan and Maula Bakhsh have already been arrested and were remanded to policy custody by an Anti-Terrorism Court in Hyderabad in the murder case registered by her father.

The family had said that the suspects threatened them with dire consequences if they did not withdraw the case, and that the police had not arrested the suspects due to their political influence.

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