KARACHI: Police on Wednesday launched an investigation into the gruesome murder of a woman and her three minor daughters by her husband in Malir and recorded the suspect’s initial statement.

The suspect, Fawwad, who was a salesman by profession, also attempted suicide after murdering his wife and daughters inside his rented home in Shamsi Society.

The victims were laid to rest at a local graveyard in Azeempura.

Coffins of the four — Huma, 40, and her three daughters Neha, 16; Fatima, 12; and Nimra, 10 — were brought to their maternal home in Shah Faisal Colony for their last rites.

A large number of relatives, neighbours and citizens attended the funeral prayers.

Slain wife and three minor daughters laid to rest; suspect gives statement to police via cell phone

Police have recorded the suspect’s statement at the Jinnah Postgraduate Medical Centre, where he told the police that he had killed his four family members.

East-Zone DIG Muqaddas Haider told Dawn that the suspect typed his statement on his cell phone and cited ‘financial and family problems’ as the motive for the killings.

The DIG said the suspect stated that he had taken a loan, but was unable to repay it.

Another officer, Korangi SSP (Investigation) Abraiz Ali Abbasi, said that the police would try to get the suspect’s statement recorded before a judicial magistrate once his health improved.

However, the SSP said the suspect’s family was reluctant to lodge an FIR with the police.

Police are trying to approach the parents and siblings of the slain woman, Huma, to become a complainant in the case.

In his statement, typed on a cell phone, the suspect allegedly wrote that when he returned home on Tuesday, he met his mother, who lived on the ground floor of the building and came upstairs to his portion, where his wife began quarrelling with him.

He claimed that he ate a meal with his three daughters, during which his wife kept quarrelling with him.

His elder daughter started weeping saying that they (the three daughters) were upset due to daily fights of their mother and father. After the meal, two daughters went to sleep, the suspect added.

The suspect said that he was under stress because he had taken a loan and his creditors were demanding their money back, while he was also upset over frequent fights with his wife.

“In a fit of anger,” he claimed to have first killed his elder daughter, who was weeping, with a knife and later killed his two little daughters in their sleep. After this, he claimed, he also killed his wife.

Following the gruesome killings, he sent pictures of his slain family members to his ‘investors’ and informed them that he had ‘ended everything’ and now he was going to take his own life as well.

He attempted suicide by cutting his neck with the same knife as well. However, he survived and is under treatment at hospital.

Published in Dawn, December 1st, 2022