January 22, 2008	Tuesday	Muharram 12, 1429

RAWALPINDI, Jan 21: Reviving the sheer terror linked to the Hattora Group of 1980s, five members of a family were found hammered to death in their house in People’s Colony, police said on Monday.

Investigators suspect all those slain were first poisoned, as a bottle carrying the label of “Tender Poison Spray” was found lying close to the blunt weapon and the bodies.

The gruesome murder came to light Sunday morning when Gulnar Bibi, a sister-in-law of the family’s head Jamshaid Gul, came to the house and felt the stench lingering around the place.

Finding the door unlocked, she entered the house and was taken aback by the horrific scene. Blood-soaked bodies of Jamshaid (28), his wife Tahira Jabeen (26), brother Abid Hussain and two stepchildren, Shakir Ali (9) and Rimsha (8) were lying on the beds.

Terrified by the sight, Gulnar Bibi rushed out and called the neighbours and the police.

Deputy Superintendent of Police (DSP) Rana Shahid, who visited the crime scene, told Dawn that “skulls of all the victims were smashed and a hammer along with a bottle containing poison was found lying beside the bodies of the children.”

He said apparently it was a case of robbery-cum-murder, as cellphones and some gold ornaments were found missing from the house. However, the police are investigating on different lines, he added. The Rescue 1122 staff, who also reached the scene shortly, shifted the bodies to the District Headquarters Hospital (DHQ) for autopsy.

According to a doctor, apparently all the victims died of head injuries caused by a “blunt weapon”. However, samples from the stomach had been taken and sent to chemical examiner’s laboratory to ascertain whether the victims were poisoned before being hit, he said.

The investigating officer said there were no signs of the victims putting up resistance because all of them were lying on their beds.

Preliminary police investigation revealed that Tahira Jabeen, who once served as a nurse in Abbottabad, contracted second marriage with Jamshaid, a car dealer. She had two children from her first husband.

The police handed the bodies over the victims’ relatives, who took them to Abbottabad for burial.