The bodies of five members of a family, including two children, were found inside a house in Falak Naz Society in Karachi’s Malir on Tuesday, with a handwritten note recovered from one of the deceased pointing to financial hardship and alleged harassment by relatives.
The dead were identified as 30-year-old Shehryar, his 28-year-old wife, Saba, their children, five-year-old Aizal and three-year-old Arya, and Shehryar’s 20-year-old younger sister Shumaila, who lived with her brother.
Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP) Malir Dr Abdul Khaliq Pirzada told The Express Tribune that the house was locked from the inside. When police broke open the door, they found Shehryar and Saba seated on chairs, both with gunshot wounds to the head. A pistol was found nearby.
“The bodies of Shumaila and the two children were found on bedding on the floor in the same room. The three appeared to be asleep, but foam was coming from their mouths,” SSP Pirzada said.
A handwritten note was recovered from Shehryar’s pocket in which he purportedly admitted to taking his own life and those of his family members. The note, which was stained red with what appeared to be blood, attributed the family’s circumstances to financial hardship and alleged indifference and harassment by close relatives.
According to the initial investigation, police suspected that Shehryar and his wife had administered poison to the children and Shumaila before shooting themselves. The exact cause of death of all five would be established through post-mortem examinations, Pirzada said.
In the note, Shehryar alleged that relatives had harassed the family and accused them of killing his father, who had died in a traffic accident some time earlier.
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“The reason we are taking this step is that our relatives started harassing us. They say that we killed our father,” the note read.
Shehryar also wrote of their financial distress; “We would ask our relatives to give us money, but they humiliated us. Our maternal aunts and paternal uncles blocked us so that we would not ask them for money,” the note said.
He said they had sought help to buy groceries, milk for the children, and refill their gas cylinder, but had been left without assistance.
“If we went to visit them, they would throw us out of their homes. They had promised our elders that they would look after us, but they abandoned us. The situation has become unbearable,” the note read.
Shehryar also called for those he blamed for the family’s circumstances to be held accountable. “My last wish is that those who treated us this way should be made an example of. But we have no hope in the law,” the note said. “They are all shameless people who only come to funerals to eat biryani. Nobody helps anyone.”
Police forensic teams collected evidence and fingerprints from the scene. SSP Pirzada said investigators were looking for samples of Shehryar’s previous handwriting to compare with the note and establish its authenticity.
Police also recovered a white powder from the house. Investigators suspected it could be a form of poison that had allegedly been administered to Shumaila and the children. The substance was taken into custody for laboratory testing.
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Malir Investigation Police said a relative had arranged for groceries to be delivered to Shehryar’s house a day before the incident. Police also said Shehryar had reportedly been suffering from severe depression because of financial difficulties, a claim they said was supported by some neighbourhood residents.
The bodies were taken to the Jinnah Postgraduate Medical Centre for post-mortem examinations. Police were investigating both the murder and suicide angles to establish the circumstances surrounding the five deaths.
Sindh Home Minister Ziaul Hassan Lanjar took notice of the recovery of five bodies and directed the SSP Malir to provide complete details of the incident. He ordered a thorough investigation into all aspects of the case, calling for every possible measure to establish the facts and determine the motives behind the incident.
Lanjar also directed police to use all available resources in the investigation, identify those responsible, and ensure action in accordance with the law. He also asked to be kept informed of the investigation and its progress.
