KARACHI, Jan 7: Investigators associated with the killing probe of Ismail Gulgee suspect that the triple murder, motivated probably by revenge, was carried out by a former employee of the couple.
Artist Abdul Mohammad Ismail, better known as Gulgee, his wife Zareen Gulgee and a maid were found murdered at their Clifton residence on the afternoon of Dec 19.
Doctors who had carried out the post-mortem said the victims were strangled, though there were also head injuries inflicted with a blunt weapon on them.
Police officials said the couple had lodged 15 cases against different servants during the past few years, accusing them of theft in the house at different points of time.
“There is a strong possibility that one of those 15 servants could have carried out the killing just to settle a score or take revenge of the disgrace he or she might have suffered at the hands of the couple,” an investigator told Dawn.
“We are collecting data of these 15 servants, who are now out on bail.”
“Some servants say Zareen Gulgee often lost temper at servants and humiliated them,” the investigator added.
Police officials pointed out that only Zareen Gulgee’s body was found trussed up, which seemed to suggest that the perpetrators had specifically vented their anger on her. However, it could just be a coincidence, an investigator remarked.
Following the discovery of the bodies, police had claimed that three servants of the house were missing, but except for the driver, police were able to trace them. In fact, they themselves had returned to work.
They all had to undergo lengthy questioning sessions, but none of them fitted into the body of suspicion, police said.
“The couple used to hire servants on daily wages and they were offered no meals, thus almost daily new servants came to work,” investigators said.
The oldest servant
Mohammad Nafees is the oldest servant of the couple. Primarily, Nafees used to assist Gulgee in his paintings by providing painting material, stretching canvas, etc.
Nafees, who lives in New Karachi, had been serving the slain artist for the last 25 years. He has spent almost half of his life with the great artist.
Quoting the oldest servant, investigators painted a bleak picture of the house as far as taking work from domestic help was concerned.
Nafees told police that Ismail Gulgee on several occasions had requested him not to quit if his wife became angry at him.
However, the investigators failed to give a convincing answer to the question as to why the servants, if they at all were involved in the triple murder, did not take away any valuables.
Amin Gulgee
To the aspect of an insider job, the investigators seem to have formed an opinion that the couple’s only son, Amin Gulgee, who lives next door, is not involved in the murder. However, police have fulfilled a formality by recording Amin’s statement.
The young artist is very social and has good relations with people in the power corridors, remarked a police official, seeking anonymity.
Following the discovery of the decomposed bodies on the afternoon of Dec 19, and shifting the bodies for a post-mortem examination, police also collected fingerprints from the scene of the crime.
Similarly, following the discovery of the car (AGH-956) in the DHA, fingerprints from the car were also obtained.
However, the fingerprints collection seems a futile exercise as the Nadra software does not pick these collected prints from the crime scene.
On the other hand, the record of the fingerprints collection lab of the Sindh police has reportedly become obsolete.
The absence of investigation expertise can be assessed from the fact that police are not in a position to match the collected fingerprints from the crime scene with the fingerprints of the servants, an insider observed.
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