Pakistani police said that they were investigating the shooting death of a local journalist to determine whether a provincial minister was behind the killing.
The development comes a day after the family of Anwar Jan accused Abdul Rehman Khetran, a minister for food in Balochistan province, of hiring gunmen to kill Jan on Thursday.
Police officer Abdul Aziz said a murder investigation has been opened into Khetran's possible involvement. Khetran has denied being involved, saying the gunmen blamed by Jan's family for killing him were not his men.
Repeated attempts to reach Khetran for comment were unsuccessful.
Jan was killed by two gunmen as he was walking to his home in the town of Barkhan. His family insists Khetran ordered Jan's murder in retaliation for Jan exposing alleged corruption.
Pakistan is considered to be one of the most dangerous places for journalists, and attacks on them are not uncommon.
Anwar Jan's killing comes days after prominent journalist Matiullah Jan, who is unrelated, was abducted in broad daylight in the capital Islamabad. His abductors freed him in a deserted place 12 hours later.The government has not said who was behind Matiullah Jan's abduction.
Levies in Barkhan have registered a case against Balochistan Minister Abdul Rehman Khetran and his two guards for the murder of social media activist Anwar Jan Khetran.
Anwar was gunned down by unknown men in Barkhan on July 23 in Naharkot, according to the Levies.
According to the FIR, his brother Ghulam Sarwar told the levies that Anwar was killed because he wrote about the corruption of the provincial minister for food and welfare, Abdul Rehman, on social media.
The minister’s two gunmen Nadir Khan and Adam Khan are also nominated in the FIR. Sarwar told the law enforcers that the minister’s men had threatened his brother over the telephone for writing against the provincial minister on social media.
Abdul Rehman has, however, denied his involvement in the murder and said the two other people who were nominated in the FIR were not his gunmen.
