KARACHI: Five members of a family, who were found dead inside their locked home on Tuesday, were laid to rest in a local graveyard on Wednesday.

The bodies of Shahzeb Nawazish, 35, his wife Saba, 28, their two minor daughters, Ayzal, 5, and Arya, 3, and his younger sister Shumaila Nawazish, 22, were found in their one-room portion of a three-storey house in Falak Naz Society within the remit of the Bin Qasim police station. A handwritten note was also found, which suggested that the family was enduring financial problems.

All the bodies were kept at the Edhi morgue in Sohrab Goth after completing medico-legal formalities at the Jinnah Postgraduate Medical Centre.

On Wednesday, the bodies were handed over to their family members, who took the corpses to Gulshan-i-Hadeed for burial.

Malir SSP says evidence points to suicide, but police investigating deaths from every possible angle

The funeral prayers were offered at a local mosque, which was attended by relatives and area people. They were laid to rest in a local graveyard.

Talking to reporters, Ali, a cousin of the deceased Shahzeb, said they were unaware whether the family was facing any financial problems. He said Shahzeb had recently sold his father’s house and was building a new one, where the family was supposed to shift.

He said it was incomprehensible for them why he took such a drastic step.

However, he admitted that Shahzeb had cut himself off from all relatives. He said after his father’s death, Shahzeb might have been under “mental pressure”, but had not expressed it.

Police treat case as murder-suicide

The DIG of East Zone, Dr Farrukh Ali, told Dawn that the case appeared to be one of “murder-cum-suicide”.

He said Shahzeb first killed his family members and later took his own life, and a “suicide note” was also found.

The DIG said the case was similar to an incident last month in Ahsanabad, where five members of a family were also found dead. He said while it might not be advisable to reach a conclusion about the Ahsanabad case, the Bin Qasim case appeared to be one of “murder-suicide”.

Separately, Malir SSP Dr Abdul Khaliq Pirzada told reporters after attending the funeral prayers of the five deceased that it appeared to be a case of suicide.

He said investigators believed that Shahzeb first administered poison to his two daughters and his sister and later shot his wife and himself.

He said the family was living in a rented house and their landlord told the police that they knocked on the door for a considerable time but got no response. Later, they broke open the door, which was locked from inside, and found five bodies.

He said that despite this, the police were investigating the case from every possible angle and would carry out technical and forensic analysis, adding that the “facts” would be shared with the media.

Published in Dawn, October 15th, 2026