LAHORE: A young man shot dead six members of his family including his parents and father-in-law here on Friday.

Police arrested Abid Hussain and recovered from him the rifle he used in the murder of six people.

A police official said Hussain took an automatic rifle and reached his parent’s house at PCSIR Housing Colony on College Road where he exchanged harsh words with them. He said the furious man opened fire on his father Ghulam Hussain, 60, and mother Asia Bibi, 55, injuring them critically.

As his sister Raheela, 32, moved forward to help them, he opened fire on her and her son Humayun, 15, the police official said. He added that the suspect later drove his car and reached the house of his in-laws at Bagrian Chowk where he opened fire on his father-in-law Aslam, mother-in-law Rani Bibi and his aunt.

Six of them died while the condition of Rani Bibi was said to be critical.

A Dolphin Squad traced the suspected killer and arrested him. Lahore SSP Operations Mustansar Feroze told Dawn that the murder suspect was an addict of ice for the last nine years or so and he killed six members of his family under the influence of the drug.

He said the suspected man later concocted a story saying Ghulam Hussain and others had tortured his three-year-old son to death and wanted to exact revenge.

In his video statement to police, Abid Hussain said his father’s real name was Nawaz Hussain. He said deceased Ghulam Hussain adopted him in his childhood and brought him up.

“I killed six people to exact revenge of torture of my minor son who later died,” the suspect claimed in his video statement.

Police shifted the bodies of the deceased to the city morgue for autopsy and lodged two murder cases against the killer.

A case was registered on the complaint of his sister for killing her parents, sister and her son while another FIR was lodged on the complaint of a brother-in-law of the killer. Both the cases were lodged under murder charges.

The IGP took notice of the gruesome murder of six members of the family and directed the Lahore police higher-ups to collect evidence and prepare a case against the perpetrator for maximum punishment in a court of law.

The acting capital city police officer directed SSP Investigation Imran Kishore, SSP Operations Mustansir Feroze and Saddar SP Operations to lead the case.

He lauded the efforts of the Dolphin police for promptly responding to the emergency call and arresting the suspect on College Road.

Published in Dawn, April 16th, 2022