An absconding servant of slain former premier Benazir Bhutto, who aroused suspicion with his “strange gestures” while she was delivering her last address in Rawalpindi last week, could provide a clue to her killing, Pakistan People’s Party workers said.

Khalid Shahinshah, who was hired by Bhutto on the recommendation of her security advisor Rahman Malik, has been on the run ever since footage emerged of the strange gestures he had made while standing on the dais next to Bhutto while she address an election rally.

Shahinshah was standing on Bhutto’s left during her speech and ran a finger across his throat which implied slitting the throat. Security officials have expressed concern at his “suspicious gestures” which could not be ignored.

They told The News that his arrest could “provide answers to many questions”.

According to PPP workers, after Bhutto’s speech, Shahinshah was in a rush to get inside her bulletproof vehicle and did not hold the door open for the former premier. Shahinshah was usually the last person to get into Bhutto’s vehicle and sometimes, when there was lack of space in the car, he would stand on its footboard.

After Bhutto’s assassination, Shahinshah stayed at Zardari House, her home in Islamabad, for two days. He did not attend Bhutto’s funeral in her ancestral village of Naudero in Sindh province and went there only on the third day after her death, The News reported. When cornered by PPP workers, Shahinshah disappeared saying his mother had died. He has been on the run since then.  Shahinshah was a leader of the Pakistan Students Federation. He was with Bhutto in Dubai and returned with her to Pakistan on October 18.

Meanwhile, two gold rings that Bhutto wore are missing. Doctors at the Rawalpindi hospital where she was taken after the attack, claim they gave them to Bhutto’s servants,  who have denied these claims.