LAHORE: A sessions court on Wednesday awarded life imprisonment on four counts to a young man for killing his mother, two sisters and a brother under the alleged influence of the online game PUBG.

Kahna police had registered a case against the convict, Ali Zain, who was 14-year-old at the time of occurrence in 2022.

Additional District & Sessions Judge Riaz Ahmad announced the guilty verdict, awarding Zain life imprisonment (25 years) on four counts and imposing a fine of Rs4 million.

State Prosecutor Habibur Rehman presented evidence before the trial court, saying the accused, inspired by PUBG, on the day of the incident opened fire on his family at 2am, killing his mother, two sisters and brother. He said ample evidence was available on the record besides the confession of the accused.

The judge handed over the custody of the convict to the superintendent of Kot Lakhpat jail to serve the sentences, which would run concurrently.

According to police, the convict’s mother, Naheed Mubark (45) was a lady health worker.

The investigation revealed that Zain was addicted to the popular online game, PUBG, and allegedly committed the murders under its influence.

Other victims included Taimoor Sultan (20) and Mahnoor Fatima (15) and Jannat (10). They were found dead in a room of their multi-storey house in LDA Chowk, Kahna.

Published in Dawn, September 25th, 2025