LAHORE, March 11: Five people, including a six-year-old child, were murdered in different parts of the city on Sunday, police said.

Two cousins were shot dead by four people over a monetary issue near Madina Chowk in Shadbagh area.

Police inquiries showed that Muhammad Siddique (50) and his cousin Abdul Ghafoor (55), both residents of Bhattapura, went to the house of Javed near Madina Chowk to receive Rs45,000 in connection with a business deal that turned ugly.

Quoting witnesses, the police said the two sides had an exchange of words, following which Javed and his accomplices Meena, Bagga and Bhola opened fire on the cousins and fled the scene, leaving them injured.

The injured were rushed to the Mayo Hospital where they succumbed to their wounds.

The Shadbagh station house officer said the victims ran a factory near Lunda Bazaar while the suspect Javed was also doing business in the same area.

A police station official said an application from the victims’ families was awaited for registration of a case.

Masti Gate police said Saleem Arshad (55) of Gujrat was shot dead by his rivals outside his shoe-sole manufacturing unit in Qilla ki Ghatti.

Initial police inquiries showed that Saleem, who had shifted to Lahore following murder of his son Naeem Arshad and nephew Ghazanfer two years ago, was shot dead by Hyder Ali and his three accomplices -- Ali Raza, Usman Butt and Hassan.

The accused had been hurling life threats on Saleem for pursuing the case. The victim was a former union council head from Gujrat.

The police handed over the body to the victim’s family after an autopsy and registered a case against the accused on the complaint of victim’s son Adeel.

Baghbanpura police said Muhammad Mian Farooq was gunned down allegedly by his three employees at Nau Wala Chowk, Loahy Wali Pulli. The accused are brothers.

According to the police, Farooq, who ran an iron factory, lent money to his employees Imran, Irfan and Javed some time ago and was demanding the amount back.

On Sunday, Farooq again asked the brothers to return the borrowed money which led to a quarrel, resulting in his murder.

Police shifted the body to city morgue for an autopsy.

Batapur police found the body of a six-year-old unidentified child near a shrine in Lakhan Sharif.

Some member of the public spotted the body and alerted the emergency police.

The police have detected marks on the victim’s throat and found blood on the body, suspecting the victim might have been sexually assaulted.

They said the victim was not yet identified.