LAHORE: The brother of slain social media celebrity Qandeel Baloch was arrested by police in Dera Ghazi Khan late Saturday night and confessed to killing her in the name of ‘honour’.

Qandeel, who was also a model and an actress, was strangled to death in her house in Multan’s Karimabad area in the early hours of Saturday morning. Her father claimed that she was killed by her younger brother, Waseem, in the name of honour.

Waseem, accompanied by police, confessed in a press conference that he had drugged and strangled his sister, adding that the motive behind the murder was that “she brought dishonour to the Baloch name” due to risque videos and statements that she posted on social media.

“There are other issues as well… Like the maulvi issue,” he said, in a apparent reference to a recent controversy surrounding Qandeel’s selfies with Mufti Qavi.

“She was on the ground floor while our parents were asleep on the roof top,” he continued. “It was around 10:45 pm when I gave her a tablet… and then killed her.

“She wasn’t aware I was killing her,” he said.

Waseem said he acted alone. “I am not embarrassed at all over what I did,” he said.

City police chief Azhar Akram said Waseem had killed her by covering her mouth and nose. “After that he fled to Dera Ghazi Khan with two of his friends. We are working on catching the friends and I expect they will also be caught soon. After speaking to them, we will be able to determine whether they were involved or not.”

Azhar said authorities will charge Azeem with carrying out a so-called honour killing and seek the “maximum punishment”.

Qandeel’s father, Muhammad Azeem said in a First Information Report that his daughter came to Multan from Karachi to celebrate Eid with the family. He said that Waseem, 25, also came to meet them on July 14.

He said that he along with his wife went to sleep on the rooftop while Qandeel slept in a room where Waseem strangled her to death as he was against her working in showbiz.

He alleged that Waseem had taken this extreme step at the behest of his brother Mohammad Aslam Shaheen.

Qandeel’s funeral was held early Sunday (today) near her family home in Shah Saddardin, Dera Ghazi Khan.