FAISALABAD, Dec 19: The curse of dowry forced me to kill my four relatives and an adventure film taught me how to slaughter someone, says Shahbaz Ahmed, who is under custody of the Ghulam Mohammad police on charges of the quadruple murder. Shahbaz had killed Hameedan Bibi, her pregnant daughter, Sajida, son Sajid and seven-year-old granddaughter Zonera in Munirabad on Dec 11.

“We have been under the clutches of poverty for a along time and had no hope to beat it even in the future. My poor parents had planned the wedding of my sister but were under consistent worries for dowry as one loses respect in society when fails to wed his or her daughter without it,” he said.

Dowry from the bride’s side is considered to be part of a wedding in the sub-continent.

“I would not have committed this horrible crime, had society been free from the tradition of dowry,” said Shahbaz, adding that his family was pressing him for dowry arrangements which landed him in police custody.

Shahbaz, alias Sabo, from Chak 34, Deputywala in Nankana Sahib, passed his middle examination but had to leave school because of poverty. His younger brother also bid adieu to schooling in class seven for the same reason. The alleged killer has three brothers and four sisters. His father has meagre sources to feed his family.

“I begged money from my friends but they refused. I was then left with no option but to loot someone.”

Shahbaz said that he had also tried his luck as stitching unit contractor in Faisalabad but had to suffer financial losses.

Recently, he had arrived in Faisalabad to distribute wedding cards of his sister and was staying with Sajid’s family.

“At first, I axed to death Sajid and later hammered Hameedan Bibi; she fell down and passed away instantly. Sajida rushed to save her mother but failed. Then I stabbed Sajida in her belly and killed her,” he said.

He said Zonera, the granddaughter of Hameedan, had seen all the killings and had been frightened. “I slaughtered her without facing any resistance from her,” he continued. He said that he had put a heavy trunk on the slaughtered Zonera.

The accused said he was confident that police would not be able to make after him. “Before leaving the crime scene, I got Rs7,000 and jewellery from the deceased’s house,” he said.

Shahbaz said he came out of the house with ‘confidence’ and tried to bargain with a rickshaw driver to go to Nishatabad. The driver demanded Rs100 which he refused to pay. Then he walked to the main terminal on Narwala where he got in a bus and reached Nishatabad to see his cousin, Iqbal.

He said that he did not want to kill his relatives but worries to arrange dowry for his daughter had forced him to commit the crime.

“My conscience pinched me a lot and I was about to commit suicide if police did not arrest me,” he said.

He said that he had learnt slaughtering the humans from a film. “I watched the film at a tea stall outside a mills building in my hometown,” he said

He appealed to the government to take action against dowry and punish those who demanded it.

Shahbaz will be sent to jail on a judicial remand on Dec 21. Dawn also came to know that the victims were living hand to mouth. Sajid was the sole brother of six sisters and stitched clothes in his drawing room. He was living in his 2.5 marla house with his mother and wife as his all sisters were married. His wife was pregnant and had gone to her parents’ house in the same city. Sajid used to write a diary of his routine at the end of the day. Dawn went through few pages of the diary and learnt that he fell in love with Fauzia one-and-a-half year ago but her mother did not allow him to marry that girl. Sajid wrote that he had also faced family pressure over various issues and had to divorce his first wife six months ago. Later, he tried to commit suicide but survived. The amount of Rs7,000 looted by Shahbaz was given to Sajida by her husband for any emergency.

Assistant Superintendent of Police Humayun Masood Sindhu told Dawn that ice cream cups seized from the crime scene led to the arrest of the accused. Police interrogated nearby shopkeepers and one shopkeeper recognised the cups and informed about the getup of the criminal. The wife of deceased Sajid confirmed the contour of Shahbaz.

The government enforced the Dowry and Gift Restriction Act of 1976 but the law virtually remains shelved.

A district government officer said that a couple of days ago the Punjab government had asked districts to submit reports regarding action against dowry. However, there was no example to punish anyone under the section of this act, he said.