RAWALPINDI: The homicide investigation unit of the police has decided to close the investigation into the murder of a woman by her husband who also committed suicide.

The incident occurred in the limits of the Sadiqabad police five days ago.

The man was a daily-wage worker who had been without work after the coronavirus lockdown and unable to earn a living for his family, including seven children.

In the police investigation, once a suspect identified as a murderer is also killed, the police have nothing to do except record statements of the family members and close the case.

“Now the murder case will be closed because the accused identified in the case has also killed himself and all circumstantial evidence and statements of the family convinced the investigators to close the case,” Mohammad Riaz, a sub-inspector who was leading the investigation, told Dawn.

Daily-wage worker killed his wife and committed suicide five days ago, say police

Since the murder of their parents, the children have been living with their grandmother in their native town of Sheikh Baba in the Bajaur tribal district of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa,” Taj Mohammad, an uncle of the children, told Dawn.

He said he was the first family member who received a phone call from one of his sister’s neighbours about the incident.

“As I reached the house, bodies of my sister and her husband were lying in a pool of blood and the children screaming. I was unable to understand what had happened.”

The younger daughter of the couple said in her statement to the police that her father murdered her mother and then killed himself after a brawl over hardship they had been facing due to poverty.

Niamat Khan, 45, a daily wage worker, had been jobless since the lockdown.

“I had a telephonic talk with my sister two days before the incident. She didn’t tell me about anything that they were facing but invited me to her house for Iftari,” said Mr Taj.

The couple had been married for 25 years ago and had seven children. They were settled in Sadiqabad for the last 15 years.

Published in Dawn, May 18th, 2020