Four booked for murder of couple

Police are yet to make an arrest in the case.

ISLAMABAD:

Four people have been charged for the murder of a couple, police said on Friday. The young couple was found slaughtered in their rented house in Malikabad, Dhoke Abbasi early on Thursday. Their one-year-old daughter was found beside their bodies.

Mohammad Rasheed, father of 19-year-old victim Nazim Rasheed, told police he suspected the owner of the house and three others for the murder (names withheld to protect privacy). Mohammad told police that the owner had quarrelled with his son over an issue and had threatened him. The couple had moved into the house about a week back, police said. None of the suspects were arrested till the filing of this report.

The crime was discovered when a neighbour, Muhammad Hanif, called the police telling them he could hear the constant cry of an infant from within the house. Police officials broke into the house to find the bodies of the couple on the floor and their daughter lying on the mattress.

“The couple had been slaughtered,” said a police official. The bodies were taken to the Pakistan Institute of Medical Sciences (PIMS) and handed over to the family after autopsy.

A Tarnol police spokesperson ruled out robbery, saying the two did not own anything valuable. He said the nature of the crime indicated that it had been prompted by hate and anger. He said they are investigating whether the couple had any issue with the owner of the house or whether it was an honour killing.

Neighbours said they had not heard any noise from the house or seen anyone going in or out of the house on Wednesday night or Thursday morning.

In a separate incident, two labourers were stabbed over a monetary dispute in Sector G-7/3-4. Both were taken to PIMS.

Police said that Muhammad Yousaf and Izatullah were in their junkyard when Muhammad Bashir and his accomplices came to collect Rs15,000 owed to them for scrape they had sold to Bashir a few days back. A fight broke out when Bashir refused to pay and demanded more scrape from them that they were selling elsewhere.

During the ensuing fight, Yousaf was stabbed in the leg while Izatullah in his stomach. Doctors describe Izatullah’s condition as serious. The police registered a case but were yet to make an arrest when this report was filed.

Published in The Express Tribune, December 22^nd, 2012.