MULTAN, Jan 24: A couple and their two children were found dead under mysterious circumstances in their house here on Monday.

The bodies of Aslam, his wife Gulzar alias Fouzia, five-year-old daughter Sonia and one-and-a-half-year-old son Sheraz were found from a room of their house in Fazal-i-Karim Colony on Old Shujabad Road.

The room was said to be locked from inside and relatives of the dead had to break its window to get inside as they did not receive response when knocked at the door. A terror-stricken two-and-a-half-year-old son Sohail of the couple was, however, found alive from the room.

Police said apparently it seemed that Aslam killed his family before committing suicide because of two reasons; firstly the room was locked from inside and, secondly, the children and their mother were butchered while he had no wound on his body.

They said, however, a half bottle of liquor and a poisonous substance was found near the body of Aslam. The bodies had been removed to the mortuary for autopsy but their relatives had requested not to conduct post mortem examination on the bodies of the children and their mother. Family sources said Aslam had been facing financial problems as he was unemployed for quite some time.