Kerosene attack: ‘Special’ team to probe triple murder attempt

Man tried to set three sisters on fire; one victim in critical condition; monetary dispute cited as motive.

RAWALPINDI:

The police have constituted a special team to investigate an attack on three sisters in Dhamyal locality last Sunday.

Speaking to The Express Tribune, Saddar Baironi Station House Officer Raja Rasheed said a masked man entered a house in Bank Colony on Sunday and burnt three sisters by sprinkling kerosene oil on them.

Quoting Haroon Umar, the victims’ brother, Rasheed said he was playing at the house when a man wearing black clothes and holding a gallon in his hand barged into the house through the main gate.

“The man ran towards the lounge where his two sisters Maryam Umar and Maria Umer were asleep. He sprinkled oil on them and set them alight,” the SHO said. The elder sister Kalsoom Umar saw the man and tried to overpower him but the man also sprinkled oil on her and set her on fire, he added.

They shouted for help but the man escaped. Neighbours who rushed to the house, extinguished the fire and informed Rescue 1122. The sisters were taken to a private hospital. Doctors said the victims sustained burn injuries on the face and lower body. Kalsoom’s condition stated to be critical.

The family belongs to Bagh area of Azad Jammu and Kashmir and is settled in Rawalpindi. The victims’ father Umar Hayat lives in Damam and works in a factory.

The motive behind the crime could not be ascertained and Shahnaz Bibi, the girls’ mother was unwilling to register an FIR. “The police have recovered a bottle, handkerchief and broken glasses from the house. It is certain that the culprit sprinkled kerosene oil on the sisters,” said Rasheed. The bottle was sent to a laboratory for fingerprints. A monetary dispute seems to be the motive behind the crime, he added.

Published in The Express Tribune, July 2^nd, 2014.