MULTAN, April 8: A disturbed childhood and lack of attention from the parents might have led to the mental disorder of two self-confessed cannibal brothers of Darya Khan, a town of Bhakkar district.This was stated by Rana Tasawur, a cousin of Farman and Arif, arrested over cannibalism and now facing court trial on terror and other charges.

The town attracted both the national and international media coverage when on April 3, the newly-buried body of a girl was found in their house and its few limbs cooked in a curry.

A police officer investigating the case, however, says the failed marriages of the accused drove them towards human curry 'to gain manhood'.

“The mother of Arif and Farman died in their childhood and their father, Rana Khalil, could not give them proper attention due to his disputes with an influential landlord over land,” Tasawur told this correspondent.

He said Arif was mentally upset since his childhood while Farman was an introvert and stayed away from social gatherings.

“Earlier, their father Rana Khalil and another brother Rana Intizar also lived with them, but Intizar had left the house along with his children a few years ago over some differences within the family. Soon after Khalil also left the house and started living with Intizar because of the rude attitude of Arif and Farman towards him,” he said.

Three years ago, the wife of Farman left him alleging that he would subject her to severe torture.

“Though Arif was a mentally challenged man, his father managed a match for him. A few years ago, his wife left him and now she has married another man,” he said.Former Kahawar Kalan union council nazim Khalil Ahmed Rajput said Farman was an addict and their father provided them with financial support.

He said the area people were totally unaware of the activities of the two brothers as they rarely met the neighbours and relatives. He said when their father shifted to the house of Intizar, both Arif and Farman limited their interactions with the neighbours and even children got frightened seeing them.

He said whenever he had visited their house, he found Farman missing from the house.

He said the area people were totally unaware of their involvement in cannibalism and they also became aware of it after the police action.

Their father said he did not know why the wife of Farman had left him. He said he had never tried to know the reason, but Farman told him he had tried various times to bring his wife back but she refused.—Shakeel Ahmad