Karachi, Jan 15 (IANS): A senior MQM leader has been found dead in a car at a Karachi neighbourhood, media reported on Monday.

The body of Hasan Zafar Arif, MQM-London's deputy convener, was recovered from Karachi's Ilyas Goth area on Sunday, Dawn newspaper quoting police said. He was in his early 70s.

The cause of Arif's death was not known immediately as doctors who examined his body said there were no signs of torture or bullet wounds.

Arif was a former associate professor at the Philosophy Department in University of Karachi and a former fellow at Harvard University.

In October 2016, Arif was arrested from outside the Karachi Press Club, where he was due to address a press conference along with other leaders of MQM-London.

He was booked for allegedly facilitating and listening to a controversial speech of MQM founder Altaf Hussain in which he reportedly tried to outrage religious feelings, criticised the military establishment and asked his workers to extort money from the traders.

In April 2017, he was released from Central Jail Karachi after an Anti-Terrorism Court (ATC) issued his release order.