Karachi: A woman and her three minor children were found murdered at their house in Gulistan-e-Jauhar on Thursday. Police arrested the woman’s husband and registered a case against him.

After being informed of the incident, police and rescue workers reached the neighborhood’s Sher Muhammad Baloch Goth, from where they took the bodies to the Jinnah Postgraduate Medical Centre (JPMC).

The body of one of the children was found in the courtyard, while the bodies of the other children and their mother were found in separate rooms.

Karachi Police Surgeon Dr Summaiya Syed said the bodies of Saima, 35, Ashad, 9, Shahzain, 7, and Amar, 2, were brought to the JPMC in the early hours.

She said that all of them had suffered multiple superficial and deep wounds by a sharp-edged weapon. The cause of death has been ascertained to be excessive blood loss, secondary to multiple injuries and slit throat, leading to cardiorespiratory failure in all cases, she added.

On the complaint of the deceased woman’s father Saleem Baloch, the Gulistan-e-Jauhar police registered a case against her husband, who is allegedly a drug addict.

“We have had no personal enmity with anyone. My son-in-law is a drug addict, who committed the crime while his family was asleep,” the FIR quotes the complainant as saying.

“At around 1:30am my son-in-law Arshad Ali informed me about the incident. When I went to my daughter’s house, I found the bodies with slit throats at different places, soaked in blood. It is suspected that Arshad for unknown reasons murdered my daughter and grandchildren.”

Police said the husband’s statements have been changing since being taken into custody, adding that the suspect has reportedly been addicted to crystal meth for five years.

Officials said the man initially claimed to have gone to his uncle’s house to take drugs, but he altered his statement after verification with his uncle. The murder weapon has not been recovered, but efforts are under way to locate it, they added.

The husband denies involvement in the murders. “At 8pm on Wednesday I had left home. When I returned home around 2am on Thursday, I found the bodies of my wife and children,” he claims. “I myself informed the police, but instead of arresting the perpetrators, they arrested me.”

He said he has no enmity with anyone, and he works for a cable network provider. He was previously accused of possessing a weapon and had been arrested by the Aziz Bhatti police.

According to his close associates, he has been a drug addict for a long time. Police said Arshad informed his father-in-law about the deaths at 1:30am, while the police were informed at 2:19am.

The husband’s brother Imtiaz Ali told the media that around 11pm Arshad came to his house and asked him to come with him to his house.

“When I reached my brother’s house, the body of his eldest son was in the courtyard, the body of his wife was in another room, and the bodies of the other two children were in separate rooms.”

Imtiaz then went away to inform his sister and sister-in-law at their homes. “We all live at some distance from one another. We provide cable TV and internet services. Arshad has two or three more houses in the same area, and he recently sold some property.”

He claimed Arshad used to spend thousands of rupees on drugs in a single day. “A person addicted to drugs can do anything. It’s possible that my brother committed the murder because he is always in a state of intoxication.”

The deceased woman’s brother said Arshad has been addicted to drugs for years, and despite earning a handsome amount by renting his houses and running the cable network business, “he used to ask us for money”. He also said he believed Arshad was involved in the murders.

Police said the suspect had slaughtered the victims with a sharp-edged weapon, adding that blood was found in the courtyard of the house, where a part of a child’s finger was also discovered.

Gulistan-e-Jauhar SHO Fahadul Hassan said that besides Arshad, they have also taken his brother Rashid into custody. He said the decision was made due to some suspicions about Rashid. Once the details are cleared, they will be shared with the public, he added.

Replying to a query, the officer said the prime suspect is a regular drug user, specifically addicted to crystal meth (ice). He said Arshad had been using drugs for quite some time.

He also said that while the police were interrogating him, it was evident that he was under the influence of drugs. His statements were inconsistent and continuously changing, he added.

The SHO explained that in cases involving the use of ice, it is common for addicts to commit crimes without being fully aware of their actions.

Source: The News