Man kills four family members before fleeing with children

Police unsure about motive; say they are trying to trace the suspect .

KARACHI: A man killed his wife, brother, sister-in-law and niece inside their house in SITE area on Thursday evening. The accused managed to escape after the incident, taking his children with him. Police believe the incident took place over a domestic dispute but have yet to arrest the suspect.

The accused was identified as 32-year-old Nadir Khan, who hails from Swat. The victims' family also accused Nadir of committing the crime, adding that the suspect ran a gambling den. "Nadir used to run a famous gambling den by the name of Saifullah, in Nazimabad," a relative, Alamgir, told The Express Tribune. “He came to the house and opened fire on his wife and other family members.”

As a result of the firing, Nadir's wife, Raj Bibi, was killed on the spot. Nadir's elder brother, Zewar Khan, who was a truck-loader by profession, also lost his life along with his wife, Noor Bibi, and one-year-old daughter, Saeeda. Two other family members were also critically injured in the incident.



On receiving information of the incident, ambulances from various welfare organistations rushed to the site and shifted the bodies and the injured to Abbasi Shaheed Hospital for autopsies and medical treatment. Scores of family members, relatives and neighbours reached the hospital where they shouted slogans to express their anger over the incident. The bodies were later handed over to the heirs for burial. The victims were buried at a graveyard in Pirabad, Orangi Town.

On receiving information of the incident, the police too rushed to the site and collected evidence from the crime scene. The police claimed to have collected the empty shells of the ammunition used in the incident and sent them to the forensic division of the Sindh police for analysis.

The accused had managed to escape before the police reached the site. Nadir is a father of two, a daughter and a son. The family claimed that Nadir took away his children while fleeing the crime scene.

Though the investigations are at the preliminary stage, police officials probing the case suspect the incident occurred over a domestic issue. "We cannot say anything about the motive for sure but initial investigations suggest that it occurred over a domestic dispute," said SITE division SP Sajid Sadozai.

The official said they were trying to trace and arrest the suspect. No case has been registered as the police are waiting for the family to register a case.

Published in The Express Tribune, December 25^th, 2015.