LAHORE, April 28: A prayer leader and two of his brothers were found murdered on Wednesday in a seminary at Mahmood Booti in Baghbanpura. Built by businessman Sheikh Mateen, the seminary has been offering Islamic education for many years to students from all over the country , a resident, Mustafa Pasha, told reporters.

Those found dead were Hafiz Muhammad Iqbal, 28, and his brothers Hafiz Muhammad Rafiq, 23, and Muhammad Abbas, 16. Saying that the killings might be an outcome of some enmity, Cantt police SP Dr Usman Anwar claimed that there was no terrorism involved in it.

"This is no terrorism. No such evidence has been found and the seminary is also not linked to any religious organization," he believed. He said throats of the deceased brothers had been cut with a sharp-edged weapon. He said they had also injury marks on the bodies.

Mr Mateen told the police that Iqbal got married two months ago. He lived in a rented house in Gowalmandi. He called his brother Hafiz Rafiq from his native village in Azad Kashmir and asked him to look after the seminary. Their third brother came to meet them, he added.

On Wednesday morning, Mr Mateen said Iqbal's wife rang him up and told him that her husband did not turn up since Tuesday. He said he came to the seminary and found it locked from inside.

He along with neighbours scaled the walls and called out the police when they found one them lying in a pool of blood in the hall. The SP said the police found the two elder brothers in a room and the third one in the hall.

"It seems as if somebody had drugged them before killing as no evidence of resistance was found there," he said. He said they found four empty cups of tea that suggested that the fourth cup was used by the killer. This evidence along with a broken bottle of soft drink and finger prints have been sent for forensic examination, he said.

One more thing that needed to be probed is that the number of students at the seminary had decreased drastically since the other brother took over two months ago, the SP said. He said the number of students was 150. Now the seminary has only eight students, he said.

City police chief DIG Tariq Saleem also visited the scene and said it did not appear to be a case of terrorism. "It might be rooted in old enmity and we will trace it soon."

However, I. Salik, Iqbal's father-in-law, said that he had no knowledge of any enmity. " Meanwhile, the bodies were removed to the city mortuary for autopsy. No case has so far been registered.