RAWALPINDI, Aug 7: Four members of a family were found murdered near Rawal Dam in the wee hours of Sunday, police said. Farhat Sultana, 52, a resident of Allahabad Westridge, along with her two daughters, Zoya (22) and Zanoria (23), and 28-year- old son, Mirza Zeeshan, had left her house in their car (LOV-552) at around 10:30am on Saturday, saying that she would be visiting the Combined Military Hospital for medical tests and might later go for a picnic.

One of the relatives of the deceased told Dawn that Mirza Zeeshan was contacted by one of his cousins at about 12 noon. The two persons had routine conversation and there was no hint of anything being wrong, he added.

However, the relative said, when Zeeshan was again contacted at 1:30pm, his mobile phone did not respond.

He said Zeeshan had been receiving threat calls for last few days, but he ignored all those.

Later, the bodies of the four family members were spotted by a servant of a retired police officer who was passing through the area after midnight.

He saw three bodies of women and one that of a man lying in a pool of blood under a tree, while food stuff was also scattered around them.

The police believe that the murder took place between 12 noon and 1:30pm on Saturday.

According to preliminary postmortem report, all of the victims had been shot in their faces.

Meanwhile, a four-member investigation team led by Additional SSP Asim Gulzar has been formed to probe into the case.

Inspector General of Police (IGP) Islamabad Chaudhry Iftikhar Ahmed, when contacted, said: “Most likely it is a family linked affair. However, the police have started investigation on different lines.”

The IGP ruled out it being a robbery incident, saying it seemed that the victims had been trapped by someone close to them, as nobody could go to a jungle to have a picnic.

“The crime scene was not a picnic place and nothing including purses and jewellery were found missing,” he said.