GUJRAT: Police claimed on Sunday to have arrested three suspects, including two brothers, who had allegedly hacked to death their mother, stepfather and an 18-year-old sister in Murala village of Mandi Bahauddin’s Civil Lines police precincts on Friday last.

The cause of triple murder was ‘honour’ as according to police the suspects had nurtured a grudge against their mother Shakila. A mother of five, Shakila had allegedly eloped with Muhammad Afzal of Sargodha along with her three [minor] children leaving two of her elder sons with her first husband 17 years ago. She didn’t surrender the custody of her daughter Naila to her first husband and sons after she reached puberty.

Shakila, her second husband Afzal and her daughter from first husband Naila had been found killed with a sharp-edged weapon at their house in Mandi Bahauddin.

District Police Officer Umar Salamat told Dawn that Shakila’s two sons and a close kin Aamir had been arrested in connection with the triple murder as police kept watching their movement after the incident.

Police analysed the data of the mobile phones of the suspects before and after the incident.

The data showed the presence of these three in Mandi Bahauddin, the area where the incident occurred.

He said police grilled the suspects who had confessed to their crime. Further investigation was under way to ascertain other details and involvement of some more suspects in the case.

The DPO said the suspects had nurtured a grudge against Shakila for elopement 17 years ago and for not surrendering the custody of her daughter to her [first] husband.

Earlier, the police had detained a mentally challenged son of Shakila who would live with his mother in Murala village.

The [triple murder] case was initially lodged against four unidentified suspects on the report of Muhammad Rasheed, the brother of slain Muhammad Afzal.

Published in Dawn, June 26th, 2017