LAHORE, Pakistan — In a macabre case that has transfixed and horrified Pakistanis, the police on Monday arrested a man suspected of cannibalism after they found an infant’s head at his home.

The police acted after complaints from neighbors about a foul smell coming from the home of the man, Muhammad Arif, in Bhakkar, a remote agricultural district in Punjab Province.

When the police discovered the head, Mr. Arif said his older brother had disinterred a baby’s body from a local graveyard. The brothers then cooked and ate the remains, said Amir Abdullah, the district police chief.

After the police arrested Mr. Arif and began a search for his brother Farman Ali, the news swept the country — not just for the horror of the case, but also for its familiarity. The brothers already had been immortalized in headlines as the Bhakkar cannibals three years ago.