Ghastly crime: Police yet to arrest man who killed two nephews

Nadeem allegedly murdered the children and injured another on the advice of a pir.

ABBOTABAD:

A joint investigation team of Abbottabad and Murree police is yet to apprehend a man accused of murdering two of his nephews and severely injuring another.

According to the Abbottabad police, Nadeem, a resident of Lora village in Havelian, took his nephews to Murree for a picnic on April 13 and later killed them, dumping their bodies in a forest in the limits of Trait police station in Murree. Eight-year-old Mehr Ali and four-year-old Qadir Ali were found dead on Monday after their injured six-year-old brother Zain Ali managed to survive and find help. Zain is undergoing treatment at the Pakistan Institute of Medical Sciences in Islamabad.

The throats of all three minors were slit with a dagger, a police official said, adding a criminal case was registered against Nadeem in Murree. According to the deceased boys’ father, Ziaur Rehman, a resident of Chita Pul Malikpura, the accused was his wife’s first cousin and might have killed his sons to settle a score with his wife who was opposed to Nadeem’s proposal for marriage to her younger sister. The accused had allegedly been pressing Zia’s wife for the marriage, but other family members had rejected the proposal.

Grief stricken, Zia said he was about to leave for the US in a couple of weeks with his family, but the accused destroyed not only his future but also his present.

Some of the victims’ family members suspect that Nadeem could have killed his nephews on the advice of a Pir based in Murree that he is a follower of. However, the real reason behind the cold-blooded murders can only be ascertained after his arrest, said Shafiq, a close family relative.

Police officials said the joint investigation team was busy searching for the accused whose mobile data had been obtained and would lead them to him. In order to prevent him from fleeing abroad, police have succeeded in placing Nadeem’s name on the exit control list. A double murder case was registered by Murree police after resolving a jurisdiction issue between them and the Abbottabad police as both claimed the incident occurred in the other’s jurisdiction. 

Published in The Express Tribune, April 19^th, 2014.