Suspect in five people’s murder case surrenders

Rafiq allegedly killed his ex-wife, her sister, mother, uncle and cousin

OKARA:

The suspect, Rafiq, allegedly involved in the murder of five people in Okara on Saturday, surrendered himself to the police on Sunday.

Rafiq had allegedly killed his ex-wife and her other relations.

The A-Division Police Station began interrogating the suspect while the postmortem of the victims had been completed and their bodies handed over to the heirs. Their funeral prayers were offered at the Jinnah Park in Okara.

The deceased Ashiq and his son were buried in Okara while three other bodies were sent to Faisalabad for burial. Muhammad Rafiq had allegedly killed his ex-wife, her sister, mother, an uncle and her cousin in two different places on Saturday.

He had shot and seriously injured Ashraf late Saturday night. The Inspector-General of Police had taken notice of the incident and sought a report from the RPO.

DPO Hasan Iqbal, along with a heavy contingent of police, was present at the district hospital at the time of the postmortem.

People of the area remained under the spell of fear after the murder incident since the suspect had been at large. DPO Ahsan Iqbal arrived at the A-Division Police Station as soon as he learnt about the arrest of the accused.

According to the police, Rafiq had been living abroad for a long time, while his wife Farzana lived in Latifabad along with her brother Kashif.

Rafiq had divorced his wife, and both of them had filed cases against each other. Farzana’s uncle Ashiq and his son Salman had also filed a case against the suspect. While returning after a court appearance, Rafiq opened fire near a grain warehouse and killed Ashiq and his son Salman. Two women were also injured due to the firing.

The suspect then went to Latifabad, where he shot and killed his divorced wife Farzana and brother-in-law Kashif, the police official said. His former mother-in-law, Zubeda, who had sustained serious injuries, died of her wounds later.

A resident of the locality said the suspect had divorced his wife because he believed that she had given her relatives the money that he had been sending her over a long period of time.

He had also filed a case to get his money back.

Farzana’s uncle was also pursuing a property ownership case against the suspect, leading to the grudge.

DSP Muhammad Saleem Ruth told The Express Tribune that the family court had issued its verdict in favour of Farzana. Rafiq shot and killed his ex-wife, brother-in-law, mother-in-law and their two relatives after chasing them following the court order, the official said.

In an equally tragic incident in Lahore in April this year, a man allegedly shot dead his parents, a sibling, a nephew and in-laws in PCSIR Colony and Sheraz Town respectively.

The suspect, Abid, entered his house in PCSIR Colony, Main Bagrian, carrying a prohibited 223-bore automatic rifle. His family had been asleep.

The suspect resorted to indiscriminate firing, killing his father Ghulam Hussain, his mother, Nasreen Bibi, sister Raheela Bibi and nephew Hamayun Khurram. He did not stop at that. He got into his car and drove straight to Sheraz Town, a few kilometers off his house, where his in-laws lived.

There he re-loaded his gun and opened fire on his in-laws, killing Shagufta Bibi and his father-in-law Aslam while his mother-in-law, Rani Bibi, sustained serious injuries. Right after the incident, nearby people alerted the police. The Dolphin Squad arrested the suspect and recovered the automatic rifle from his possession.

Upon receiving information about the incident, senior police officers, a forensic team and a heavy contingent of police rushed to the spot.

They cordoned off the crime scene, collected forensic evidences and recorded statements of the eye-witnesses.

Police said that initial investigations suggested that the suspect was a drug addict -- using ICE -- and had acted under the influence of drugs.

 

Published in The Express Tribune, July 18^th, 2022.