Cop kills four before taking his life

Deceased constable booked for murder


Arsalan Altaf June 23, 2016
Photo of Islamabad police. PHOTO: AFP

ISLAMABAD: A constable of Islamabad Police on Wednesday evening shot dead four persons including two women and a child before killing himself at a house in Banigala.

Police said why constable Muhammad Mehmood shot dead 35-year-old advocate Irum Iqbal, her four-year-old son Hussain Ali, and their 65-year-old housemaid Hajra Bibi was a mystery to them.

Muhammad Arshad, a local plumber, was also at the family’s home and was also killed by the policeman, who used his official gun.

Sub-Inspector Muhammad Shafiq, who is investigation officer for the case, told The Express Tribune that Mehmood was a tenant of the family at Bhara Kahu.

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This was before they moved to Banigala, where Mehmood used to visit the family, according to the police.

Bodies were handed over to their relatives after a postmortem at the Pakistan Institute of Medical Sciences (Pims) on Thursday.

The postmortem report is due today (Friday).

The incident took place at around 11pm on Wednesday.

“We don’t know what Mehmood and Arshad were doing at the house,” said another police official.

Shafiq said they had recorded statement of Irum Iqbal’s husband Zahid Hussain, who said Mehmood had been their tenant at Bhara Kahu in the past.

Hussain, according to the police, works in the UAE and the incident happened in his absence.

Irum Iqbal’s mother-in-law, 65-year-old Gul Nisa, suffered bullet injuries to one of her arms and is admitted at the Pims. Police said she was stable.

Police have registered a murder case against the deceased police official.

Banigala SHO Inspector Muhammad Aslam said police had launched an investigation into the incident.

“We can’t tell exactly how and why they were murdered at the moment,” he said.

Lawyers observe strike

Meanwhile, the Islamabad Bar Association (IBA) observed partial strike in the district courts on Thursday in protest of the murder of advocate Irum Iqbal, her son and maid. A large number of lawyers boycotted the courts after 930am. Most cases were adjourned due to the strike.

The IBA President, Syed Mohammad Tayyab, said the strike was observed to show solidarity with the victims and to condemn the incident.

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“It is a horrendous incident. We condemn this and demand that the government investigate it and bring the culprits to book,” he said.

Tayyab said the incident was a cause of grave concern for the security agencies.

It is pertinent to note that in May alone eight murder incidents were reported to the police in the capital jurisdiction.

Published in The Express Tribune, June 24th, 2016.

 

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