KARACHI: Police on Wednesday claimed to have ‘solved’ the case of mysterious deaths of three women — a mother, daughter and daughter-in-law — in a house in Gulshan-i-Iqbal and formally arrested the head of the family and his son over the triple murder.

Bodies of Samina, 52, her daughter Samreen, 19, and her daughter-in-law Maha, 22, were found in an apartment in Gulshan-i-Iqbal on Sunday. Samina’s husband and the family head, Mohammad Iqbal, was present in the house when the three women were found dead. His son was also found lying unconscious in a room.

“The police have formally arrested both the man and his son over the murder of three women,” said Gulshan SHO Mohammed Naeem Rajput.

The officer told Dawn that the police investigation showed that the family had been facing a financial crisis for the last four months.

They had borrowed money and were not in a position to retire the debt. They had planned a “collective suicide”, the officer claimed.

Initially, the three female members of the family were given tranquilisers and “rat poison” or pesticides. Iqbal gave the “drugs” in a juice to his son Yaseen as well. However, when his (Iqbal) turn came, he became “fearful”.

Published in Dawn, December 11th, 2025