SARGODHA, Sept 2: The man who had fled away along with his minor son after killing his wife and two daughters by serving them poisonous food courted his arrest to Cantonment area police on Saturday.

The killer, Ahmad Nawaz, a Highway department watchman, is crippled and uses a wheelchair. He suspected his wife of having illicit relation with his brother Muhammad Arif. The strong suspicion bred in him hatred against his wife and two daughters, which blinded him into committing homicide.

On Friday, he reportedly thrashed his wife Ghulam Fatima and daughters Ishrat and Muqadas, and forced them to eat poisonous Aloo Puratha (potato-filled roasted bread), which he himself prepared for the female family members. However, he did not allow his eight-year-old son Muhammad Hamza to eat the food. After making it sure that his wife and both daughters were dead, he left the house along with his son. Later, on Saturday, he himself called the police and courted his arrest.

The killer, who looked astonishingly calm, told the journalists that he had exhorted his wife not to continue relations with his brother but she refused to do so.

When asked about his fate, he said if his in-laws reached a compromise with him, he would `forgive’ his brother for his `illicit’ act.

The eight-year-old boy Hamza, who virtually lost his whole family, told this scribe that his father used to beat his mother and sisters and hated all females.

Ahmad Nawaz’s brother, denying charges of having illicit relations with his deceased sister-in-law, claimed that his elder brother was mentally unstable

However, the area residents and immediate neighbours said Nawaz was living a normal life, and he could not be termed a mentally unstable person.

Cantonment police SHO said that the accused was either abnormal or possessed exceptionally strong nerves as he looked quite unperturbed in custody after committing such a cruel act.

The postmortems have been conducted and contents of the three bodies are sent for chemical analyses. The bodies were reportedly buried in Piplan in Mianwali district, the native place of deceased Ghulam Fatima.

POs HELD: Police claimed to have arrested 120 proclaimed offenders who were allegedly involved in murders, dacoities and robberies, besides 66 court absconders, while they seized a heavy quantity of narcotics, stolen goods, arms and ammunition worth over Rs22 million.