RAWALPINDI: A distraught woman poisoned her husband and her two children and then hanged herself in their house in Dhoke Chaudhrian locality early on Monday.

Airport area police said that before committing suicide, Shahida Bibi, 28, wife of Shahid Abbasi, informed a relative about her crimes and asked him to “come and collect the bodies”.

It was the second marriage for both Shahida and Shahid, according to Faizan Abbasi, a brother of Shahid.

Know more: Woman kills son before attempting suicide

“My brother had no children from his first wife. Shahida had a son, eight-year-old Adil Shahid, from her first husband, and five-month-old daughter Alisha from Shahid,” said Faizan.

People speculated that Shahida was driven to the killing spree because her husband wanted to take a third wife.

DSP Frahan Aslam said that the killings took place early on Monday morning, before 5am. “Shahida made a phone call to her husband’s brother-in-law Mohammad Bisharat around 4:30am that she had killed her husband and her children and now was going to kill herself,” the officer told Dawn.

Poisons husband, children and commits suicide believing a third wife is coming

“A note recovered from her dress said: ‘Come to our house and take the bodies in your custody,” he added.

DSP Aslam said that according to neighbours and family members the couple had a troubled relationship and the husband wanted to marry a third time and she wanted to stop him doing that.

Airport Police  SHO Wasim Faraz said that police had to break the main door to enter the house. Inside, they found the children and Shahid lying on a bed while Shahida’s body was dangling from the ceiling fan.

“Legs of Shahid Abbasi and the two children were tied with rope. That would have apparently been done after they were poisoned,” the SHO said.

After doctors at the Benazir Bhutto Hospital (BBH) declared all four dead, the police shifted the bodies to the district headquarters hospital for medical procedures. “Samples of stomach contents of the persons supposedly poisoned were sent to Lahore for laboratory tests and autopsy report of Shahida Bibi and Shahid Abbasi will be finalised on Tuesday,” said Dr. Asif Qadir Mir, Medical Superintendent of BBH.

Published in Dawn, October 28th, 2014