HYDERABAD: Kotri police succeeded in resolving mysterious case of murders of three members of a family on Wednesday after recovery of decomposed body of the fourth family member in Kohisar area on Tuesday (May 3).

Jamshoro SSP Tariq Vilayat confirmed the body was that of Mazhar Abbas, member of Chief Minister’s Inspection Team, who was murdered by his old friend, Zafar Abbas, who along with other accomplices, had also killed Mazhar’s mother, Ms Azmat Bibi, brother Jaffar Abbas and sister Farzana on April 23 in their house in Darya Band Colony within the jurisdiction of Kotri police station.

The triple murder with no apparent motive had caused widespread scare in the area, prompting the IGP to order an inquiry and immediate arrest of the culprits.

The investigation revealed that Zafar, a bailiff at Jamshoro sessions court who was now posted at civil judge and judicial magistrate’s court of Sehwan, was prime accused in the case.

Police laid hands on him as soon as they received a tip-off from an employee of the Sindh University because his absence from duty since the day of murders on April 23 had strengthened investigators’ suspicions about his involvement in the crime, said the SSP.

Police checked late Mazhar’s call data record which showed he made the last call to the landline number of his home, lasting only a few seconds and also showed his outgoing and incoming calls to and from Zafar’s mobile phone number.

Eventually, Zafar confessed during interrogation to the murders and disclosed how he along with other accomplices Sadruddin, Mashooq Buledi, Hakim Solangi, Sultan Solangi and Mashooq Solangi committed the murders.

Zafar, Sadruddin, Mashooq, Hakim and a driver of a rent-a-car service were arrested on Thursday. They would be produced in court on Friday, said the SSP.

He quoted Zafar as telling police that late Mazhar wanted to get married, so he sought his help as he (Zafar) ran a marriage bureau as well. When he asked Mazhar to arrange a separate house because his would-be wife might not settle with his family, Mazhar agreed and disclosed he had around Rs1.5 million savings to purchase a plot and build a small house.

The SSP said the disclosure about the money sparked Zafar’s greed. He called him to Hussainabad chowk and then took him to Hakim’s house in Qasimabad where he held him hostage and asked him to hand over the cash to him.

When Mazhar told them his cheque book was at home he was forced to make a call to his family, telling them to hand over the cheque book to Zafar and other co-accused, said the official.

Except for Hakim and Sadruddin, Zafar went along with other co-accused to Mazhar’s house to get the cheque book where they killed his brother, sister and mother one by one.

The SSP said that they returned with the cheque book and drew Rs100,000 from a bank in Kotri. Police had also obtained footage from the bank’s CCTV camera which showed the accused talking to the manager.

He said the accused killed Mazhar on April 25 when he refused to sign more cheques. According to the accused, when Mazhar threatened that he would have them all arrested because he was a member of the Chief Minister’s Inspection Team, he suffocated him to death with a pillow. The post mortem report also revealed the deceased had a broken neck bone, said the official.

Published in Dawn, May 6th, 2016