Four of a family found dead at home in Lahore

Initial investigations suggest gases from a running iron caused deaths

LAHORE: Four members of a family, including a couple and their two minor children, were found dead at a house in Wafaqi Colony in Johar Town on Friday.



The victims were identified as 40-year-old Rizwan Butt, 30-year-old Sumera, eight-year-old Arsal and six-year-old Abu Bakar.

Their neighbours told the police that the victims went to sleep at night and did not wake up the next morning. The next day, a neighbour knocked on their door to inquire about something. When nobody answered, they got worried and called the police.

A team of the force entered the house where the victims were lying dead in their bedrooms. The police team called experts of the Punjab Forensic Science Agency Crime Scene Unit and Homicide Unit. Meanwhile, SP Sadar Muaz Zafar also reached the spot and supervised the investigations process.

According to initial investigations, nobody entered or left the premises of the house after the family went to sleep at night. An officer, requesting anonymity, said the couple did not have any personal enmities and was living a happily married life.

Zafar said the victims apparently had no marks of torture or injury on their bodies. According to the initial investigation, the victims died due to suffocation. "The room was filled with gas as one of the family members forgot to switch off an iron," he said. The SP added that police are investigating the case from various angles.



The bodies have been shifted to the morgue for an autopsy. The postmortem, forensic report and further investigations would help ascertain the exact cause of death, he said.

Published in The Express Tribune, September 1^st, 2018.