HYDERABAD: Seven members of a family were found dead in their home in Shahnawaz Junejo village in the Rahuki police station limits, some 40 kilometres from here, on Wednesday.

According to reports and police officials, the bodies were found lying in a veranda of the house. The dead were identified as Ashraf Hayat Junejo, a primary schoolteacher and his wife, Shahnaz, also a primary schoolteacher, their four daughters — Faiza, 14, Nisha, 13, Aleeza, 2, and Laraib, 10 — and 15-year-old son Jawad.

The bodies were around 60 hours old and bore strong signs of decomposition and swelling. All the bodies were taken to the Liaquat University Hospital (LUH) for post-mortem examinations. Medico-legal officer Dr Wasim conducted autopsy of Ashraf Junejo and his daughter, Aleeza, and preserved their viscera for chemical examination whose report would be available after two weeks. The MLO said that Ashraf’s brother Aslam Junejo agreed to doctors’ proposal that post-mortem examinations of only two bodies should be conducted in view of decomposition.

Police led by Deputy Inspector General of Hyderabad Naeem Shaikh and Senior Superintendent of Police Sarfaraz Nawaz Shaikh rushed to the spot. A large number of people from the neighbourhood gathered outside the house. Relatives and close family members of Ashraf Junejo also rushed to the spot after hearing the news of the tragedy.

Experts from HEJ institute called to collect samples

According to Aslam Hayat Junejo, a family member scaled the wall to enter the house after it had remained closed for the previous two days. He said the bodies were found in one room on charpoys. He denied that the family had any enmity with anyone.

Except for Jawad’s body, which was found near the toilet, others were lying either on charpoys or on the floor. Initial findings of police officers, including the DIG, are that the deceased had inhaled carbon monoxide caused by smoke emission from the generator which was in the same room, while windows and doors of the room were not kept open for ventilation.

DIG Naeem Shaikh told journalists that all entrances to the house remained closed and the generator switch was on. He said that there was no sign of murder or marks of violence that may force police to probe it from the point of homicide.

Neighbours claimed that Ashraf Hayat had come out of his home for Maghrib prayers on Sunday and since then he was not seen. Police officials also collected fingerprints from different articles in the room for forensic examination.

Experts called from Karachi

Hyderabad SSP Sarfaraz Nawaz said that the “bodies were found in a veranda which was completely closed and the courtyard lies outside it. The generator which was lying in the veranda had no fuel”. He added that apparently “the family members had struggled to come out of the veranda”.

He said that they might have inhaled smoke from the generator. Or if that was not the case, they might have eaten some poisonous food.

He disclosed that experts from Karachi University’s HEJ Research Institute of Chemistry had been called for sample collection.

Published in Dawn, March 7th, 2019