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After a day of feverish speculation, the Sindh police chief in Karachi denied that the beheaded body found in a shallow grave in a nursery on the outskirts of the southern Pakistani port city was that of slain Wall Street Journal reporter Daniel Pearl.
But a final verdict, he said, would depend on the DNA tests that are being conducted in Lahore. Karachi does not have the facility for such tests.
Like the kidnapping and murder of Pearl, news of the recovery of what was believed to be his body had sent shock waves through the city on Friday.
"We have found a highly decomposed dead body in 10 pieces from a suburb of Karachi, but it will take time to get the results of chemical analysis," police chief Kamal Shah said at a press briefing.
"We have started in-depth investigation because of speculation in the media," he said, denying that any further leads had surfaced in the investigation into the killing.
Two Americans, including an agent of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, also visited the site where the body was found on Friday morning.
The police chief did not deny that a blue shirt similar to the one Pearl was seen wearing in a photograph emailed by his captors was found from the place and the room was similar to the one in the picture. But he maintained, "We cannot form any opinion just by glancing at some apparent evidence. We are investigating the evidences. We also found blood stains on the wall and it is being examined." He also denied any arrest in the case as reported by the media.
Pearl, who was investigating possible links between outfits like Al Qaeda and the Pakistani Inter-Services Intelligence, was kidnapped from Karachi on January 23.
A month later, a gruesome three-minute video clip sent by email to the government and the media showed Pearl being beheaded by his unknown captors.
The prime suspect in the kidnapping and murder, British-born terror suspect Sheikh Omar Saeed, was arrested and his trial is now in progress.
Earlier on Friday, government spokesman Major General Rashid Qureshi had said, "The news that we have got so far seems to say that this is Daniel Pearl, but we are waiting for absolute confirmation... This may require DNA tests, as we don't want to leave any room for doubt."
Investigators said the severely decomposed body, chopped into sections, was found on its back, while the severed head was propped up near it. The police reportedly came to know of the grave following the arrest of three militants in connection with a suicide blast in Karachi last week that killed 11 Frenchmen.
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