Financial woes drive family to 'mass suicide'

Police recover 'suicide note' from head of family's pocket

KARACHI:

The latest heartbreaking incident in the metropolis, in which an entire family died in an apparent murder-suicide, has once again raised serious concerns about the financial hardships people face amid rising inflation and the growing struggle to make ends meet.

The incident took place in Falak Naz Society, within the jurisdiction of Bin Qasim police station in Malir, where a family of five, including a man, his wife, younger sister and two children, were found dead inside their house.

SSP Malir Dr Abdul Khaliq Pirzada told The Express Tribune that the house was locked from the inside. When police broke open the door, they found the bodies of the head of the family, 30-year-old Shehryar, and his 28-year-old wife, Saba, seated on chairs. The bodies of Shehryar's 20-year-old younger sister, Shumaila, and two children, five-year-old Aizal and three-year-old Arya, were found on bedding spread on the floor in the same room.

The three appeared to be asleep, but foam was coming from their mouths, the SSP said. Shumaila lived with her brother.

Shehryar and Saba had a gunshot wound to the head, and a pistol was found nearby. A handwritten note was recovered from Shehryar's pocket in which he purportedly admitted to taking his own life and those of his family members.

According to the initial investigation, police suspect that Shehryar and his wife first administered poison to the children and Shamaila before shooting themselves.

However, the exact cause of death of all five will be established after post-mortem examinations, SSP Pirzada said.

The note recovered from Shehryar's pocket was stained red with what appeared to be his own blood. In it, he attributed the family's alleged suicide to financial hardship and the indifference of close relatives.

The note read: "The reason we are taking this step is that our relatives started harassing us. They say that we killed our father."

Shehryar's father had died in a traffic accident some time ago.

"We have no source of income. We asked our relatives to give us money, but they humiliated us. Our maternal aunts and paternal uncles blocked us so that we would not ask them for money.

"Sometimes we would seek financial help for groceries, sometimes for milk for the children, and sometimes to refill our gas cylinder. They left us helpless. They would neither meet us nor offer us any assistance.

"Whenever we went to visit them, they threw us out of their homes. They had promised our elders that they would look after us, but they abandoned us. The situation has become unbearable."

According to the note, Shehryar also expressed a final wish saying, "My last wish is that those who treated us this way should be made an example of. But we have no hope in the law. They are all shameless people who only come to funerals to eat biryani. Nobody comes for help."

Police forensic teams collected evidence and fingerprints from the scene.

SSP Pirzada said police were searching for samples of Shehryar's previous handwriting to compare them with the note recovered from his pocket and establish its authenticity.

Police also recovered a white powder from the house, which may have been a form of poison allegedly administered to the children and Shumaila. The substance has been taken into custody for laboratory test.

According to Malir Investigation Police, a relative had arranged for groceries to be delivered to Shehryar's house a day before the incident. Police said Shehryar had reportedly been suffering from severe depression due to financial difficulties, a claim corroborated by some neighbourhood residents.

The bodies were shifted to Jinnah Hospital for post-mortem examinations. Police have launched an investigation keeping the murder and suicide angles in view to establish the circumstances surrounding the deaths.