KARACHI, Feb 18: A young man was booked and arrested by police in Delhi Colony on Friday for slaughtering his four-year-old daughter for reasons that were described as mysterious by investigators, officials said.

The police said Muhammad Iqbal, in his late 30s, slaughtered Vania when his wife left home to buy foodstuffs, leaving him alone with the daughter.

“He used a kitchen knife for the murder. It has been seized for an examination,” said Frere police station SHO Inspector Shahzada Saleem.

“His wife left the house for just half an hour to buy something in the second half of the day. The suspect executed his plan during this time. When his wife returned she found her daughter in a pool of blood and her husband present in the house. The police were then called by their neighbours.”

He said that the couple was living on the fourth-floor of an apartment named Noor Manzil in Delhi Colony. The man sold readymade garments in Saddar and got married in 2001, the police official said.

“It is not yet clear why he killed his daughter,” the SHO said.

“The man claims that he killed her because of his poverty, but we did not find any sign that shows the gravity of his financial condition and that he could go to such an extent,” the SHO added.

Similarly, the police official said that it had been witnessed that in such incidents when poverty-stricken parents killed their children they tried to end the lives of all family members.

“The elder son of the suspect, who is nine years old and enrolled with a private school, was at school when the incident occurred,” he said.

He said the suspect neither tried to escape from the scene, nor did he show any regret over the incident. He remained calm after the arrest, the police officer added.

The body was shifted to the Jinnah Postgraduate Medical Centre for medico-legal formalities.“We have doubts about the reason the suspect shared with us for the murder.”

An FIR (57/2011) under Section 302 (premeditated murder) of the Pakistan Penal Code had been registered against Iqbal, the police officer said.

“Only investigation will tell the real reason behind the killing,” he added.