April 2, 2002	Tuesday	Muharram 18,1423

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RAWALPINDI, April 1: A man shot dead his wife, two teenaged sons and committed suicide at his house in Westridge on Monday, police and relatives said.

Khan Iftikhar Ahmed Khan, a lawyer by profession, shot dead his sons, Awais Iftikhar, 17, and Faisal Iftikhar, 14, while they were in their bed. Then he shot dead his wife before shooting himself in the tample, the police said.

The bodies of the two boys — winner of several awards in school debates — were found in their beds, and those of their mother and father were lying close by when the police arrived at the scene.

The gruesome incident came to light Monday morning when the house servant, identified as Azam, came for routine chore, but received no response from the inmates, the police said.

He, then, telephoned Talat Mehmood Khan, the brother-in-law of Mr Iftikhar, in Wah Cantt and informed him about not getting any response from the house. Later, the SSP Railways police, Capt Zubair, also a relative of Iftikhar, was informed.

The SSP arrived at the house located on Hali Road and found the door and windows locked from inside. When the police broke open the door, they found the whole family dead.

According to the police, Iftikhar shot dead his sons with a rifle, and used a pistol to take his wife’s and his own life. The police took the two weapons into custody, and made a video film of the tragic scene.

Khalid Khan, one of Iftikhar’s cousins, told Dawn that he had no financial problem. He said he was with the deceased’s brother-in-law on Sunday evening, who told him that Iftikhar had asked him come to his house in the morning to discuss some important issue.

Iftikhar, an active supporter of Pakistan People’s Party, was a well-off person.

Two suicide notes — one addressed to Raja Basharat, the DSP Cantt circle, and the other to his wife Rubina — were found from Iftikhar’s diary, a police officer close to the investigations told Dawn.

Quoting the contents of the note written to the DSP, the IO said Iftikhar had stated that he was going to commit suicide. However, he did not mention any causes, he added.

Similarly, the second letter, believed to have been written to his wife, stated: “Take care of the children and their education after my death,” the IO said.

He said, in his suicide note, Iftikhar had mentioned the names of some relatives and asked his wife to avoid them after his death.

The three servants of the family were booked by the police for questioning. However, they have not been charged, a police officer said.

The police were of the view that he wanted to commit suicide, but when his wife tried to stop him, he killed her and his sons.

The residents of the area were greatly shocked by the incident, and moving scenes were witnessed when the bodies were handed over to the relatives.