LAHORE: The daughter of the late Seth Abid was shot dead allegedly by her adopted son at her Muslim Town house on Saturday.

Farah Mazhar, 64, was living with her young adopted son Fahad and a daughter. She suffered a bullet wound in the stomach and was taken to a nearby hospital by her daughter but could not survive.

The victim was a mother of three adopted children — sons Fareed and Fahad and a daughter — while her husband Mazhar was living in the United States (US). Police shifted the body to morgue for autopsy and registered a murder case on the complaint of Fareed who resides at Defence. The police teams also collected forensic evidence and recovered the murder weapon from the crime scene.

Police took Fahad and two of their servants into custody and started investigation. They also grilled 40-year-old housemaid Razia.

Deputy Inspector General of Police (DIG) Operations Sohail Chaudhry told Dawn that initial investigation revealed that the younger adopted son of the woman had shot dead her over marriage issue. He said the suspect first told police that his mother had committed suicide but police found out through evidence that she was killed in a room where the furniture was ransacked and the pistol was missing.

He said police took the suspect and their two servants into custody. “The servants revealed that the suspect had shot his mother dead over marriage issue and also distorted the crime scene to give it a suicide colouring and also concealed the pistol under the floor,” he said.

He said police also recovered the murder weapon and started the investigation.

Fareed told the media that his younger brother had killed his mother and he demanded justice.

Iqbal Town SP Dr Amara Shirazi told reporters that police had started investigation from all angles and the weapons recovered from the spot had been sent to forensic lab.

Punjab Chief Minister Hamza Shehbaz took notice of the murder and sought a report from the Inspector General of Police (IGP). He said the murderer should be apprehended and dealt with the full force of the law and justice should be provided to the relatives of the slain in any case.

In 2006, Seth Abid’s son Seth Hafiz Ayaz Ahmad and five others were gunned down by a security guard at Sattukatla.

Tycoon Seth Abid was said to be among the 30 richest persons of the country. He died after a brief illness at a hospital in Karachi on Jan 8, 2021. He was about 85.

Published in Dawn, June 19th, 2022