The victim has been identified as Mr Nizam Ali Khan, a Pakistani national, whose brother Taymoor, identified him in the morgue on Tuesday.

Taymoor says his brother, a supermarket owner at Tafelkop, was allegedly murdered by one of his employees, a fellow Pakistani national, on August 2.

The employee, Rashid Iqbal, was arrested on Friday in Motetema, and appeared in court on Monday on a charge of murder.

The case was postponed to October 6, during which Iqbal will formally apply for bail.

He is however a flight risk and Taymoor, who flew back to Dubai on Wednesday, says the Khan family pray that bail is denied.

Colonel Ronel Otto, Limpopo SAPS spokesperson, confirmed everything that Taymoor told the Middelburg Observer in an exclusive interview this week.

Taymoor says that Mr Khan hired Iqbal in July as a shop assistant.

It took Iqbal a mere 22-days, to hatch his alleged murder plot, to get Mr Khan out of the way, in order for him to claim ownership of the supermarket.

Taymoor says he suspected foul play when he could not get hold of Mr Khan on August 3, for their daily telephone chat.

He attempted to call Mr Khan several times, but his calls were met with silence, which spurred him to call the police, who opened a missing person’s docket.

On Sunday, August 9, a body with a black bag wrapped around the head, was found at Avontuur, with a single bullet wound to the skull.

The body, which was in an early stage of decomposition, was also wrapped in a blanket, with the hands and feet tightly bound together.

An autopsy was done, during which it was determined that the victim was either white or Indian, between the ages of 30 and 40.

A number of local families with missing male family members fitting the specific age bracket, came forward, but none of them could positively identify the victim.

Motetema police read the Middelburg Observer reports as the story unraveled.

The investigation led police to the supermarket where the new Ethiopian owner was questioned.

The man told police that he had bought the shop from Iqbal for R80 000, and the SAPS put two and two together.

A search for Iqbal was launched and he was apprehended on Friday evening.

After extensive questioning, Iqbal led police investigators to the area at Avontuur, where he allegedly dumped Mr Khan’s body himself.

Colonel Otto says that they are investigating the possibility that Iqbal may have paid a hired gunman to commit the murder.

Taymoor however believes that Iqbal pulled the trigger himself.

“Iqbal’s evil scheme was planned for pure financial gain, and premeditated murder calls for life imprisonment,” Taymoor told the Observer while waiting at an immigration line on his way back to Dubai.

“My brother was a very handsome man, with a personality to match,” he said, adding that he positively identified the body on Tuesday, and that it had been the most unpleasant experience of his life.

“He worked hard for what he acquired in South Africa, and his life was snuffed out because of another man’s rapacity,” Taymoor told the Observer.

He said he will fly back to South Africa for the trial of his brother’s murderer.

The SAPS is also investigating the Ethiopian buyer.

Body wrapped in blanket found at Avontuur