FAISALABAD, Jan 19: The family and villagers have refuted that any of the girls who were killed by their brother in Chak 644-GB in the limits of Lundianwala police on Saturday had bad character.

The family head, Amir Ali, claimed that his son, Tanvir, was expelled from the house some four years ago due to his bad habits. On Saturday, he along with accomplice Afzal entered the house and opened indiscriminate fire killing his four sisters — Ishrat (24), Farhat (20), Nighat (15) and Musarrat (15) — and injuring another sister, Nusrat (21), and mother Naziran Bibi.

Nusrat, admitted to the Allied Hospital, also refuted the reports of relations of any of her sisters with Rafiq who was also murdered by the accused.

She said they were five sisters and four brothers. Her sister, Ishrat, along with her four-year-old son had been living with them as her husband, Iqbal, had been in Saudi Arab for the last two years. Three other sisters — Musarrat, Nighat and Farhat — were studying in a school, she said.

She said her elder brother, Sagheer, was also working in Saudi Arab, while the second brother, Naseer, helped his father in farming. She said the family had severed relations with Tanvir due to his bad habits.

She said Afzal, also an addict, had stabbed to death his father some 10 years ago.

Giving details of the incident, Nusrat said all family members were sleeping in their rooms when Tanvir and Afzal sneaked into the house and opened fire on her. Later, he fired at other family members as a result of which Nighat, Farhat, Musarrat and Ishrat died on the spot, while their mother, Naziran, sustained injuries. Luckily, her father and brothers remained unhurt.

This correspondent also visited Chak 644-GB and interviewed a number of villagers, including a shopkeeper, Naeem, and a coachman, Dastgir, to ascertain the motive behind the incident. They claimed that Afzal killed Rafiq, 23, as he had a monetary dispute with him.

According to the area people, Tanvir and Afzal first murdered Rafiq while sitting outside his house, and later they shot dead the four sisters.

They said the slain girls were not involved in any affair as alleged by Tanvir. They also alleged that both the accused used to extort money from the area people for getting drugs.

Both the accused were still at large till the filing of this report.

District police officer Zafar Abbas told Dawn on Sunday that a special police team had been constituted to arrest the accused.

INJURED: Two robbers and as many passers-by were injured in crossfire between the outlaws and police in Shadab Colony on Sunday.