KARACHI: Fed up with his financial troubles, a man shot dead his wife and three little children and committed suicide in their apartment near Karachi airport on Monday, officials said.

The Airport police said in a statement that five bodies were found from a flat in the multi-storey Falaknaz Apartments.

Malir SSP Tariq Illahi Mastoi said that they were identified as Ahsan Raza Rizvi, his wife Nida Rizvi and their two sons — six-year-old Jibrail and four-year-old Mekail — and two-year-old daughter, Umme Hani.

The body of Ahsan Rizvi was found hanging with a ceiling fan, while the bodies of his wife and three children were found on their bed.

Police say Ahsan Raza was facing financial problems after suffering losses in garment business

The SSP said that it appeared that the man first shot his wife and children and then ended his life. Investigators recovered a pistol from the scene, he added.

Investigators believed that the heart-wrenching incident took place early in the morning, and their relatives, who live nearby, got suspicious in the afternoon and informed the police.

‘Suicide note’

SSP Mastoi said that the man had also left a handwritten suicide note in which he stated that he took such an extreme step due to financial issues.

He said that the man wrote that his wife and children were ‘innocent’ and that “there’s no other way”.

He also expressed his love for his mother, sister and several other relatives and wrote ‘Allah Hafiz’ in the note.

The officer said that Raza was associated with garment business and he recently had suffered financial losses. He was not even in a position to pay his house rent as reportedly demanded by the landlord.

He said that he mentioned in the suicide note that his laptop contained a file which should be opened and read.

Airport SHO Irfan Asif told Dawn that forensic experts took the laptop for an analysis.

Autopsy report

The bodies were shifted to the Jinnah Postgraduate Medical Centre to for completing medico-legal formalities.

Police Surgeon Summaiya Syed said that Nida sustained one bullet wound in the head, Jibrail was shot twice in the head and left arm, four-year-old Mekail also sustained two bullet wounds in the head and left leg, while Umme Hani suffered one bullet wound in the head.

She said that samples had been sent for a chemical analysis as there was a strong possibility that the children and their mother were drugged before being killed.

Outside the JPMC mortuary, a few relatives of the victims, including a brother of the deceased woman, were present. However, they did not talk to the media and also attempted to stop cameramen of TV channels from taking pictures of the bodies.

Two volunteers of the Edhi Foundation and Chhipa told Dawn that they arrived at the scene at around 4pm and saw the bodies of a woman and three children lying on the bed.

The flat was located on the sixth floor of the residential complex.

They expressed their surprise as to how the neighbours did not hear and notice the sound of gunshots.

This is not the first incident of its kind in the metropolis. In March 2023, a man fed up with poverty and unemployment poisoned his wife and two little daughters by lacing their drinking water with some deadly substance and attempted suicide in their rented home in Surjani Town. All of them survived except an infant girl.

Published in Dawn, January 23rd, 2024