KARACHI: A judicial magistrate on Monday remanded a man in police custody in the case of the gruesome murder of four women of his family in their Lea Market apartment.

The investigating officer (IO) brought the suspect, Muhammad Bilal, before Judicial Magistrate (South) Kalsoom Mustafa Sahto, seeking 14 days of police custody for further interrogation.

At the outset of the hearing, the IO informed the court that the suspect had confessed in the initial grilling that he had killed his family members as one of his sisters used to make videos on TikTok and according to him, she was spreading “immodesty and shamelessness”.

When the judge asked the suspect why he had killed his niece, the suspect replied that she had seen him committing the murder.

The IO further stated that the suspect claimed his sister-in-law supported his sister in making videos on the social media platform.

Showing the photos of the victims in court, the IO said that when the suspect tried to kill his sister-in-law, she resisted and in the struggle one of her fingers got cut.

The IO added that on a lead provided by the suspect, the police recovered the murder weapon — a knife — near Native Jetty Bridge where he had hidden it after the crime.

After hearing the IO, the court remanded the suspect in police custody for five days and directed him to submit a progress report.

A case was registered at the Baghdadi police station under sections 302 (murder) and 34 (common intention) of the Pakistan Penal Code.

Published in Dawn, October 22th, 2024