RAWALPINDI: The police claim to be close to solving the murders of a man, a woman and a child, whose bodies were found on the bank of a nullah in Gorakhpur Adiala on Monday.

Though the body of the man was identified as that of Bilal Ahmed, a taxi driver from Jatli, the woman and four-year-old boy are yet to be identified and the police say anyone who comes to claim their bodies will be detained and questioned in order to track down the killers.

The bodies of the woman and child will be buried on Friday if they are not claimed by then.

The murdered woman seems to be in her 30s and the child is said to resemble her. Both the bodies are lying at the mortuary in the District Headquarters Hospital.

The body of Bilal Ahmed was claimed by his family but the police have so far not been able to record statements from his wife or mother, who live in Jatli.

Bilal has a four-year-old son who lives in the village with his mother.

The police investigating officer said Bilal had visited his family on Sunday, a day before he was found murdered.

“We suspect the murders were committed in the name of honour, either by the woman’s husband, father or brother,” he said, adding that blood samples from the victims have been sent for DNA testing.

The investigating officer said Bilal had been serving as a domestic driver in the Defence Housing Society and also drove a taxi part time.

His family was tracked down from a receipt for a motorcycle which was found with the bodies along with a purse with cosmetics. From the receipt, the police had tracked down the dealer who had sold the bike and then the family.

Though no mobile phones were found at the crime scene, the police have obtained Bilal’s mobile phone number and his call records will now be looked at in order to establish the identity of the woman and child.

The killers had fired three bullets into Bilal’s mouth and smashed the skills of the woman and child with an axe after killing them.

Some people have volunteered to help the police in the case.

Published in Dawn, June 24th, 2016