LAHORE: A man allegedly committed suicide after killing his wife and two children at Nawab Town on Tuesday.

Muhammad Maalik, 27, his wife Asia, 25, and children -- five-year-old Asif and two-year-old Mariyum -- were found dead in their house at Rasoolpura, Nawab Town.

Maalik was working as a security guard at a shopping mall in Johar Town.

The close relatives and neighbours alerted police after they found the family dead in their single-room house. Police reached the spot, recovered the bodies from the third storey and shifted them to the morgue for autopsy.

Capital City Police Officer Amin Wains, DIG Operation Dr Haider Ashraf, DIG Investigation Sultan Chaudhry and other senior police officers reached the spot and also called the Punjab Forensic Science Laboratory’s Crime Scene Unit to collect evidence.

Maalik’s father Muhammad Arif told Dawn that he had gone to attend the funeral of his relative in Sundar area. He said his younger daughter called him after founding her brother, sister-in-law and their children dead in their room. Arif said his two daughters were present in the house and as his son did not unusually go to work, his daughter went to inquire and found all of them dead. He said they did not have enmity with anyone nor was there any tiff between his son and the daughter-in-law.

Crime Scene Unit in-charge Sub-Inspector Muhammad Yousaf told Dawn that they visited the crime scene to collect forensic evidence and record the statements of the eyewitnesses. He said the suspect had strangled the woman and children and no marks of torture were found on the bodies. Later, he cut his wrist and also stabbed himself in the neck and hanged himself with girder of the roof.

The policeman said they found blood stains in the room and other parts of the building and also recovered the knife. He said circumstantial evidence suggested that the man had killed his wife and two children and later committed suicide. Initial investigation revealed that the couple had strained relations, he said.

Saddar Division SP Investigation Atif Nazir said they were waiting for the postmortem report to know the exact cause of deaths.

Police registered a case against unidentified person(s) on the complaint of Arif.

Published in Dawn, October 19th, 2016