DERA GHAZI KHAN, May 23: Seven members of a family, including four children, were murdered allegedly by their stepbrothers over a property issue in Ward No 2, Rajanpur.

The incident, happened a few days ago, came to surface when some people smelt stink, presumably of decomposed bodies, from the locked house.

The police broke the lock in the presence of the Rajanpur SSP and recovered seven bodies. They were identified as Bashiran (50) and her children Ashraf (19), Yasmeen (16), Sughra (11), Saba (8), Iqra (3) and three-month-old Shahid.

Police sources told Dawn that on the complaint of one Sardar Ali, the police rushed to the spot.

Sardar Ali informed the police that after the death of his brother, Hoshiyar Ali, in 2002, four sons from his first wife had come from Khanewal to Rajanpur to reside with the deceased’s second wife. Hoshiyar Ali had 11 children — five from the first wife and six from the second.

Some two weeks back, the four sons from the first wife had scared themselves away and since then the house had been locked.

The police also found a chopper, a pistol and two canisters filled with acid from the site of incident.

Police have registered a case against Khadim Husain, Mohammed Husain, Mushtaq and Ghulam Husain on the report of Sardar Ali.