Eight men slaughtered in their sleep

Suspect was freed after previously attacking mother

SHEIKHUPURA:

At least eight people sleeping in the streets and fields were slaughtered with a sharp instrument in Hachar village near Narang Mandi. Sheikhupura District Police Officer (DPO) Faisal Mukhtar said the suspected killer had been arrested and he appeared to be mentally deranged. Local residents told media persons after the incident that the suspect had attacked his mother and some other people with an axe and injured them a day earlier.

They claimed that residents of the area had handed over the suspect to the police after the earlier attack but he had been released instead of taken to a mental asylum or hospital. The DPO told media persons that the killer had also cut off private parts of the victims. The incident took place early in the morning when the victims were asleep outside their homes. Narang Mandi police arrested the suspect, Faizul Rasoul and seized the murder instrument from his possession. The police said their preliminary investigation had indicated that the suspect appeared to be mentally ill.

However, they said the investigation would be carried ahead while keeping in view all possible angles. All the deceased and the suspected killer belonged to the same village. Rescue personnel and Edhi Foundation volunteers shifted four bodies to the tehsil headquarters (THQ) hospital for post-mortem. However, the relatives of the four other victims refused to allow their post-mortem. When the police insisted on carrying out the autopsy of the deceased, their families staged a protest by blocking the Narang Mandi road.

Following negotiations with the police, the protesters agreed to complete the legal requirements of investigation, after which the postmortem of the remaining victims was also performed. Subsequently, funeral prayers were offered for all the eight victims and they were laid to rest in then local graveyard. It was also revealed by sources that a police constable posted in Lahore, Zafar Iqbal, had chased the murderer on a motorcycle and apprehended him after witnessing him killing a man sleeping at a petrol station.

The constable also informed the local police station about the incident. Punjab Home Minister Hashim Dogar directed the IGP to reward the bravery of the constable with a certificate of appreciation. According to residents, the suspected murderer had been a brilliant student and had topped the Lahore Board matriculation examination. He was currently doing BS and used to tutor children. His father had died six months ago, following which he had started to develop mental problems and this condition had worsened with time, they added.

His mother went to her relatives’ home in the night, after which he left his house on a motorcycle and brutally murdered the eight people asleep at different places. Punjab Chief Minister Chaudhry Pervaiz Elahi took notice of the incident and asked the inspector general of police (IGP) to submit a report about it at the earliest.