DHA family murder: Police rules out outsider’s involvement in death of family

Forensic report matches fingerprints on gun with Abdul Jawwad Durrani’s.

KARACHI: The Sindh police have ruled out the possibility of an outsider’s involvement in the death of five family members in the Defence Housing Authority. The 50-year-old chief finance officer of a Sanghar sugar mill, Abdul Jawwad Durrani, his wife and three children - 11-year-old Rehan, nine-year old Rameen and four-year-old Arif - were found dead inside their house near Yasrab Imambargah in DHA Phase IV on April 30.

The Sindh police’s forensic division has issued a report, matching Durrani’s fingerprints with those found on the weapon at the crime scene.

“The only fingerprints on the 9mm pistol found in the house match Durrani’s,” said an official of the forensic division. “Durrani’s fingerprints also match those found on the computer and laptop. We couldn’t trace any other footprints in the house apart from those of the family members.”

Investigators also obtained the DVR system from Durrani’s house but the footage did not show any outsider entering or leaving the house, except for the family members.

The station investigation officer, inspector Ali Ahmed, told The Express Tribune that they were still trying to find the email that Durrani reportedly sent to his friends and family on the morning of the murders.

“The email is a crucial piece of evidence but we haven’t been able to access it yet,” he said. “The family’s friends and relatives have only told us what was written in the email - they all know what happened and why and that is they do not want to disclose extra information to the media and police.”

The initial postmortem report issued suggested that all the victims were shot at a point-blank range while the chemical examination report has yet to be issued.

No case has been registered as yet. “There is no case for a suicide, only for attempted suicide,” said the officer. “A case can’t be registered if the killer himself is dead.”

Published in The Express Tribune, May 4^th, 2013.