Servant, accomplices slay family for riches

Three of a family were choked to death by their servant and his two accomplices at their house in sector F-10/1 early on Sunday morning. After committing the crime, Iqbal and his two accomplices, Rashid and Jawad, fled the scene with the family’s car, valuables, including jewellery and other items, and the bodies.

According to police, the three suspects strangulated Dr Khalid Ansari, Aneela Qammar, his wife, and Fatima, their eight-year-old daughter. Rashid and Jawad then transported the bodies in the family car and dumped them behind the Haj Complex in Tarnol.

While the police have managed to nab the two accomplices, Iqbal is still at large. “We have arrested Iqbal’s accomplices and are hopeful that we will be able to arrest him as well,” said the Station House Officer of the Shalimar Police Station.

The incident came to light when a relative of Aneela Qamar informed the police about the family’s absence from their house, along with the car. “He suspected that they had been kidnapped by their servant,” a police official told The Express Tribune.

The relative, who is from Rawat, first tried to call them but no one responded. When he went to the house to check up on them, he found the house locked from outside, with all of them missing. He immediately contacted the police.

The two accomplices were captured while they were trying to get the car’s number plates changed, a police official said. “The car was a Toyota Camry which could not be easily hidden. This aspect helped us in tracing them,” he added.

During the interrogation, the two suspects revealed that Iqbal was the mastermind behind the crime.

He offered them the expensive imported car, worth well over Rs2.5 million, as compensation for their help.

“Iqbal planned the murder. He had decided to keep the jewellery, cash and other valuables and offered us the car,” Jawad and Rashid revealed during interrogation. They revealed that Aneela Qammar and Fatima were strangled with a cloth, while Dr Ansari was strangulated with a copper wire.

The two accomplices were given the task of disposing of the bodies.

They loaded the family in the car’s boot, went to an isolated place in Dhok Gujran behind the Haj Complex, on the outskirts of the city, and dumped the bodies.

Police recovered all three bodies and shifted them to the Pakistan Institute of Medical Sciences for medical examination.

The doctors were not
finished with the autopsies
by the time this report was filed.

Police said Dr Khalid Ansari was a well-established businessman, while his wife Aneela Qammar hosted a physical fitness programme on the national television.

The total worth of the stolen goods is unknown.

They suspect that Iqbal has escaped to his native town of Faisalabad and are trying to trace him.

Published in The Express Tribune, July 4^th, 2010.